


Paper Parachute

by broqueroi



Series: Battle Born [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, M/M, Maybe a little angst, NO DEATH, bcuz death sucks, i'll add more tags as the story develops further, just good old work relationship or whatever, let me think for a min, or any of the members of the team for that matter, the fuck am i supposed to tag, there is some profanity in this fic?, um yeah no romance between this original character and steve, you kinda need to read the first one to understand this work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2020-05-20 20:06:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19383790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/broqueroi/pseuds/broqueroi
Summary: "Hey, what year is this?" Ruth asks the Front Desk Guy as she ran downstairs in a record time of three seconds. If he was startled he doesn't show it.Frowning at Ruth like he just wants her to go away, "2012."or call her lucky or whatever, but this new century is not what she had in mind when she closed her eyes one final time in the Valkyrie beside Steve.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Ruth is back. I'm sorry it has taken such a long ass time for me to get my shit together long enough to pick her story up again. Well, here she is waking up in the new century and because I'm so not original her experience will be a bit same to Steve's. Enjoy!
> 
> Once again thank you Nellie_Raine for betaing my mess of a work, you are an angel!

The moment Ruth grows conscious, she feels the wind and the sound of crashing waves in the distance. She is lying on her left side. The bed feels soft and the pillow is notably feathery. It's probably the most rich and lush bedding she has ever laid on. Her eyes open slowly and the first thing she sees is the ocean. A sense of calmness takes over. She gets up and approaches the window with slow steps, her eyes taking in the view in front of her in complete mesmerization.

Before long other things begin seeping into her awareness. She is dressed in a flowy white dress and her hair is no longer in her favored ponytail, rather it’s cascading down her back, the ends tickling her and making her shiver. The room is simple, with one window, which she stands in front of like a dolt for who knows how long. The walls are made of wood, with a grey-sheeted single bed, a plain dresser in one corner, plus a big wardrobe and a colorful rug that looks to be brand new. If she’s not wrong, it seems like she's back in Hawaii. 

Maybe Peggy and Phillips finally had enough of her and sent her packing while she's unable to fight or say otherwise. 

She goes back to the bed and lies down on it still looking at the water, before soon she's out cold. 

When she wakes again her head feels a bit clearer than before. Everything is the same except a person in a white coat is standing above her with a needle in his hands.

As soon as she sees the syringe panic overtakes her and she scrambles out of bed, in the process falling on the floor with a thud. Scrambling to her feet, she eyes the man for a split second and before he can utter a word Ruth hops over the bed and knocks him out cold with a swift kick to his head.  

When the man doesn't get up again, everything seems calm and normal once more. Only not so much inside her head, sirens are blaring in her head making her pay a little more attention to the room. There was something slightly off about this place. Something she didn't notice earlier, like… the air! The moisture is not as it should be; it's low. Not like Europe low, but still not as Oahu would be. The density of the air is nowhere close to what she grew up in. In addition, the absence of familiar noises that should be there is even more suspicious. No sound of people chattering or shouting in all sorts of languages. And not to forget the brand new quality of furniture in the room. It’s too new and well-made; better than anything she has ever seen before. 

Confusion fills her chest. Wasn't she supposed to be dead? Or is this what death is? Or did she survive? Then, where is Steve? Is Steve dead? How long has it been? What about the war? Did it end or is it still going? 

Not feeling up to the sick joke, she goes over to the door and tries the handle, but it's locked. Putting a little more pressure on it she wrenches the handle off. Pushing the door open, Ruth realized  _ the room _ was only a little box in an even bigger medical room with white walls and tiles and high ceilings. Translucent light lights the whole room, several white cots are lined up, heartbeat monitors next to each of them. Further down, next to a two-way mirror, a heavy metal door looks to be the only means of getting out of here. She starts to run towards it but before she could reach it, the door slides open to reveal five men in black uniforms.

They didn't fire at her immediately, so it could only mean they’re here to not let her escape. Without a second thought, she runs to meet them in the middle. Everything about the men is strange; their smell and movement are not... standard. Whoever they are, they're not regular soldiers. But at the end they were simply men, and she did notice them pulling their punches; like they are loathe to damage her more than necessary. In her experience that was even more dangerous than being killed immediately.

She doesn't know what happened after the Valkyrie went down; were they somehow magically found at the bottom of the ocean and saved? Should she ask for Peggy or Howard or Phillips or The Howlies? However long it's been, judging by how well her muscles are responding, it feels like not that much time has gone by. Actually, it seems like her punches have become a lot stronger, because with just a few pointed punches and kicks, the five men are down.

"Come in, Johnson. Is the subject secure?" Voice rings out from underneath a guy with blond hair. Lifting him, she locates the radio, which cracks to life again, "Johnson respond in the next forty seconds, otherwise I'm gonna send more back up." 

Is 'the subject' her? Well, that won't do. Cannot be friendlies that got her, obviously. She hurls the radio into the far wall where it shatters into pieces, before continuing to the door. Pressing her ear to it, she tries to hear anything. Suddenly it slides open again, revealing seven more men in similar clothing as the other five on the floor. They look eerie, with natural light contrasting from behind them, she doesn't give them enough time to inspect the scene behind her before she is launching at them with all that she has. 

When she is done her hair is all over the place, she wishes she could put it up somehow. It's still prickling how none of them have guns; only a baton, handcuffs, and radio on each of their hips. She strips the smallest one in the bunch and dons his clothing over her dress. The pants are pooling a little, the boots and the jacket are big, but it's better than nothing. She grabs one baton and stuffs it in her belt. 

Beyond the metal door is a moderate space with floor-to-ceiling windows all throughout it. A few white couches and green shrubs are placed as decoration. There is a staircase to her right. Not wanting to waste time, for there are probably more coming, she walks over to the one window overlooking a back alley. Perfect. There will be plenty of cover. With no hatch to open it, she punches it with the baton and dodges the glass that rains down. Three stories - it’s doable. Maybe her muscles will protest a little, but she won’t feel a thing, so, that's fine. Flinging herself, all too soon she is on the ground, and the expected moment of weak muscle is not there at all.  _ Huh _ . 

Whatever bad stench invades her nostrils is put in the back of her mind as she moves towards the opening of the alley. She can see people walking by, not one lick of mind paid to her. Hunching her shoulders, changing her gait, she blends into the crowd seamlessly. Looking around surreptitiously, mind working to figure out where she really is. Obvious it's a city, but just which city? The people are dressed… weirdly, to say in the least. Nearly everyone clutching something small in their hands, the buildings are towering over way too high for it to be real, and are those cars? This all is way beyond anything she ever saw or even imagined. And all around the buildings seem to be encased in glass, or maybe those big windows she just broke. 

Checking her surroundings for any followers she might have gained, she suddenly finds herself staring at huge screens literally everywhere. There was not a single building that didn't have a monstrous screen plastered on it. And they were all in colors!...?

“Watch out!”

Unexpectedly, she is yanked back by someone just as a speeding black car whizzes past where she was standing a split second ago, making her realize she was actually standing in the middle of the road like a dumbass. 

Just managing not to fall on her ass with the help of whoever yanked her, she looks up at her savior. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, are you okay? I swear I thought for a second there you were a goner. I mean I know New York can be very - uh - distracting, but you gotta be.. be careful around here you know?” 

_ New York? _

A boy that looks to be in his mid teens, a scrawny little thing, clutching something that looks like a wood board with wheels in one hand, and some kind of white wire around his neck. 

“Are you lost? Do you need help? I can, uh, call someone for you? You're not hurt, right? Do you want me to chase down that crazy car? I can totally do that too. No one should even be driving like-”

Shaking herself out of her stupor, she holds out a hand, stopping him before he trips over his own words with how fast he’s talking, “I’m fine I just-uh-” But her attention is seized by something happening a little distance from them. Several more vehicles similar to the one that nearly ran her over come screeching to a halt, surrounding a man in a circle. 

And look, Steve is alive! Well, Ruth guesses if  _ she _ survived, then a superserumed soldier definitely would. There goes Ruth’s assumption or hope that he got his reunion with Bucky.

At least a dozen people dressed in the same manner as those that attacked her comes out pointing their guns at Steve, like he is the real threat there. Ruth can physically feel Steve’s confusion and panic, because, well, she herself is pretty confused and panicked. 

Amongst the black clothed men, one figure with a dramatic flapping coat and an eyepatch stands out as if he is their CO. Probably coming to the same conclusion, Steve turns to face the man. 

Ruth debates running over there, but with no information on what she and Steve are up against, she stays where she is. Onlookers are gathering around and some of Eyepatch’s men are establishing a perimeter. 

“What is happening there? I feel like I’ve seen that blond ripped guy before. Is he famous? Must be, because I don’t know any ripped dudes-” The kid’s rambling takes a backseat as Ruth with no luck tries to figure out what they could be talking about. Should have learned lip reading, goddamnit. “Are they FBI? CIA? The Military? But their logos would be on their back, right?  _ Private _ military?” 

Steering her rattling brain that is trying to catch up with everything that just happened in the last fifteen minutes back to his presence next to her, she voices what she wondered earlier, “Did you say New York before?”

“Yeah.”

Is this what New York really looks like? She has never stepped foot in this city before. The one thing she knows about the city is Brooklyn, and that's because Steve and Bucky would never shut up about it. Now she wishes she paid one lick of attention. 

Looking back at Steve and Eyepatch, Eyepatch is indicating towards a car, most likely wanting Steve to get in and drive off to who-the-fuck-knows-where. And Steve, the idiot, just wordlessly gets into it. What about Eyepatch’s eyepatch screams trustworthiness? She knows for sure Bucky would be swearing up and down if he were here right now. 

In hindsight, Ruth should have thought of some way to follow the cars, but in her defence, it's really hard to think with all these people, flashing lights, basically just everything around her. The vehicles dispersed in a second, and soon are out of sight. The people continue on about their business too, now that there’s nothing to see. 

“Well, I guess that’s that then. Still I wonder what that was about. Ehh, I’m sure everyone will be all over it soon enough. Hey, um are you sure you’re okay? The previous offers still stand if you need them.” The kid asks tentatively, eyes full of innocence and genuineness. If he noticed anything similar between her clothing and Eyepatch's men then he doesn't show it.

“Yeah, kid. I’m fine, don’t worry. Thanks for-uh-saving me, though. ” She smiles a little reassuringly at the kid . 

“That’s okay. Cool cool. Alright then I'll be on my way. Be careful! Bye!” He waves as he puts the white wire into his ear, and turns away, disappearing in a sea of people. 

Turning around, Ruth tries to gather her thoughts. Steve is gone with Eyepatch to probably wonderland for all she knows. What she needs is a safe shelter to regroup and find out everything she can. Plus, being so out in the open is making her feel uneasy, especially in a city she knows practically nothing about. Then figure out where Steve fucked off to so that she can break him out or something. Maybe she should try to find the others before going after Steve; wouldn’t SSR come for them? She’s pretty certain Phillips will be loathe to lose the captain of his elite team and his… extra agent.  

Or she  _ could _ just let them find her and demand answers. At least then hopefully she'll be joined with Steve. Between the two of 'em they can break out of anywhere, she is sure. Then they can go searching for SSR since Steve knows New York much better than her. But what if she doesn't even manage to get a glimpse of Steve, Ruth would just be handing herself over on a silver platter. Anyhow, shelter before everything else. 

Once again blending in with the crowd, she walks the street like any other person, albeit watching out for any dark clothed people. She sees a newsstand a few feet away from her and grabs one, barely breaking her stride and tucks it in her armpit. She needs money, so she’ll have to get her hands a little dirty. No biggie, her hands have been in the dirt for a long time now. And Ruth doesn’t exactly have the time to make  _ honest _ money. 

The problem is, who to steal from?

"I swear one of these days I will blow your brains out!" 

A deep voice draws her attention to her left, to a massive man dressed in baggy dark jeans and a red hoodie with suspicious looking dark stains all over it. He is in an alleyway between two tall buildings, clutching a small black thing to his ear. 

"Bob, baby, don't make me kill you. I am Deadpool, the baddest ass in town, I really really don't wanna dirty my beautiful hands with your gross blood. I don't know where your blood has been, Bobby Bob. A man can never be too careful. Be a dear and collect his teeth for me too alright, I hear that guy has a nice set of round beautiful teeth. How about you take those teeth for yourself, my writer can promise you it will be the best dental you will ever get in your life." He lowers his hands and punches the small black thing with his fingers muttering under his breath. 

She can see his hoodie's pocket indent in a wallet shape. Her target picked she just gotta wait for the guy to join the busy sidewalk. Just her luck, he tucks the little thing in his jeans pocket and joins the crowd. Ruth follows him in a good distance, before he stops at a crosswalk with several other people waiting too. Seizing the chance, she runs headfirst into him, colliding bodily and they both crash down together. 

"Girl. What the fuck - "

"Sorry, I'm sorry. I wasn't watching, I'm so sorry." Quickly swiping his wallet out of his sweatshirt's pocket, she gets up on her feet and crosses the road with the other people, effectively disappearing out of the man's eyesight. Ruth finds a secluded place to check how much she managed to swipe. There were some plastic things with titles on it like "Bank of America" and "Wells Fargo" on them. And all of them had different names at the bottom, she wasn't sure what to make of them, so, deeming them not important she checks the big compartment and her eyes widen. Next to several pink Hello Kitty 'gift cards' lay a hundred and seventy-four dollars. This is a whole three months worth of salary right in her hands. He did not look wealthy enough to carry around this much money, but looks can be deceiving she supposes. Now with plenty of money, she can get a motel room or something, and new clothes that actually fit her. And Ruth feels empty with no guns attached to her hips after spending more than better of a year surrounded by guns and bullets. 

After wandering in between pretty fucking tall buildings, Ruth can say with confidence this city is stupid. Probably due to the fact that she has no idea where she is, well sure it says she's on the 8th avenue but honestly that means shit in her circumstances. Now she wishes she actually took up on that kid's offer to help, at least to get a hotel. There is little to no label on the buildings. The ones that do have them she doesn't understand. Seven-Eleven? Marriott? McDonalds? CVS? Starbucks? 

She was about to give up and ask someone for directions when she rounds a corner and sees a red label that says "Econo Lodge." Lodge should mean housing or something, right? She goes inside it, ringing a bell above her and sees a young girl behind the desk, in a blue blouse and a pleasant smile.

"Hi, welcome to Econo Lodge. Do you have reservations with us?" 

"Um no. I don't think so." Ruth approaches with slow steps. Glancing down at her name tag, "Latisha."  _ What a cool name _ . 

"That's alright. We have rooms available. Will it just be you?" Her inquiry delivered with a tilt of her head. 

"Yeah, yes. Just me. And--uh--cheapest one you have." She's not worried about money, she has plenty, but old habits die hard. 

"Okay. We have a full/queen at the rate of 85 dollars." Okay… Maybe Ruth heard her wrong.

"Come again?"

"Full queen at the rate of 85 dollars, it includes free Wifi, continental breakfast and free laundry." Latisha's pleasant smile still in place. Ruth would get annoyed if it weren't so pretty.

"Is that - normal around here?" Wondering if by chance she found herself in a very,  _ very _ expensive establishment. 

"Actually pretty cheap for Manhattan, I would say."

What should she do… Does she really have any choice? This girl says it's cheap, she could go out and wander some more, but honestly, that doesn't sound appealing at all. She needs some housing fast.

"Okay, I guess I'll take it."

"Great. Can I get your ID, and will it be cash or credit?" 

ID? What would she need that for? Besides, she doesn't have any of her identifications. Not even her dog tag. Fuck. Latisha is still looking at her expectantly.

"I don't have it on me right now, is it really necessary?"

Face turning sympathetic, Latisha says, "I'm afraid it's the policy and a security measure." 

"Oh, okay. Then thanks I guess." Ruth throws a smile at her and, looking down, turns to leave. Just as she was about to wrench the door open, Latisha speaks up. 

"Wait. If you really need a place to say there is a small motel in Brooklyn that doesn't ask a lot of questions. I can give you the address?" 

Thinking it'll probably be the best option, she accepts. Exiting with an address written on a paper, and a map of New York, she goes about getting onto a bus. With the help of various people and several bus rides, she is in the right place. The passing thought of why the bus ride is so damn expensive crosses her mind, but is promptly set aside in favor of watching the change of scenery as she makes her way through a big bridge. How the neighborhoods change is captivating and she's been all over Europe. Seen a lot of beautiful things, but this really was something else. Everything was just so different.

White Pearl was the name of the motel. The place is dingy, not much light even more pronounced now that it's almost dark out, accompanied with a smell of smoke in the air. A great contrast to its name. 

A man, perhaps in his 30's, looks up with no pleasant smile or anything like Latisha's, and stares at her when she just stands there rooted in her place, taking everything in. A cleared throat finally shakes her out of her stupor. 

She walks up with a little more confidence than she felt in Econo Lodge, "I would like a room." After a pause she adds, "The cheapest you have."

"Fifty a night." Looking at her unimpressed, voice gruff and hoarse like he smokes. It was much cheaper than what Latisha offered, but still, it's so much. 

"Fine, I'll take it." She takes out 'her' wallet and reluctantly gives the guy the said amount. 

He slaps a key on the counter, "Room 28 on the second floor. Check out is at noon." And turns away from her, dismissing her effectively.

Taking the key, she passes by several other doors (two of them she can picture vividly what's happening inside) and heads upstairs. Finding the right room, she goes in and promptly shuts the door, making sure to lock it. The room had one bed, two nightstands, and a small bathroom which she heads to instantly and into the shower, spends a few minutes looking for anything different about her body. Those fucks could have done anything. Thankfully everything seems fine. After calming down a bit, Ruth concedes that the water pressure is very good and feels a tad less grumpy about the expensiveness of New York. No wonder Bucky and Steve moaned so much for lack of money. 

Feeling a lot better now that she's clean, not that sweat and grime bothers her at all, it's still good to feel clean. She contemplates between a bathrobe and the stolen clothes but if anyone finds her, fighting in a bathrobe will be, well, not ideal. Putting on the bit-baggy uniform back on, she throws herself on the bed. Wow. The beds Ruth's been on so far are so comfortable. Though she doubts she'll be able to sleep on it. She predicts she'll gravitate towards the floor soon enough. 

Suddenly remembering the newspaper she swiped earlier, she hops up to get it where she threw it by the door and after retrieving it, she sits back on the bed with a tired sigh. Let’s see what’s been happening lately.  _ New York Post _ .

_ Best Buy still investigating CEO Dunn following abrupt resignation. _

_ President Obama continues push for Congress to approve "Buffett Rule". _

_ Alec Baldwin attacks "Today" in new Twitter tirade. _

_ DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg's compensation drops by 40.5%. _

Ruth sits there and patiently reads every headline on the front page. Her eyes keep darting to the President Obama part, wondering who he was. Then her eyes go up to today's date and her brain short circuits for a long time. Wednesday, April 11, 2012. What even is this number? Did the newspaper fuck up? Maybe it was supposed to be April 11, 1945, and she was out of it for a month or so, not whatever the answer would be if she her brain unfreezes long enough to do the equation. Yeah that's it. 

But just to be sure… 

"Hey, what year is this?" Ruth asks the Front Desk Guy as she ran downstairs in a record time of three seconds. If he was startled he doesn't show it. 

Frowning at Ruth like he just wants her to go away, "2012." 

Twenty-twelve. Two-thousand-twelve.

What. The. Fucking.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back once again. Should probably give a fair warning that there will be some sciency mumbo jumbo. Now I've done my best trying to explain everything but well I got a C in biology so please bear with me. I'll put summarization at the end too :D

Staring up at the ceiling, Ruth tries to figure out how it was even possible. It would be almost 70 years since 1945. This whole time she's been in the future... Well, now that she thinks about it, everything makes a whole lot more sense.  

Shaking her head, she sits up, and feels utterly out of bound for the first time in a while. The last time she was this helpless was when she was captured by Hydra. This is a whole new century, might as well be a whole other planet. It does not help she's never been in New York before. What the hell is she supposed to do now? Suddenly she feels acutely alone and vulnerable. A plan. That's what she needs. Something to occupy her mind so that she don't go down the mental rabbit hole. She needs info, she needs to find out as much as possible about this new century.

First and foremost, and most worrying, who is Eyepatch? It’s obvious he’s the one in charge of both Steve and Ruth waking up in twenty-goddamn-twelve. What happened to the rest of the Commandos? Peggy? Stark? Phillips? She supposes they’re all dead by now. Gosh, they lived their whole lives thinking they had died at the bottom of the ocean, probably mourned them their entire lives, christ. She hopes they all lived to the fullest and that none of them died in the war. And how _did_ the war go? Did they win?

At that moment her stomach growls loudly and she looks at it like she can't believe her body has the audacity to demand food. Where do 21st century people get their food from? Same as before... right? 

"Where can I get cheap food?" Ruth pops up to the Front Desk Guy again. 

He breathes out a sigh and does not even look up at her, "There is a McDonalds one block over."

"One block which way?" 

"South."

When she stands there not knowing what to say, how would she know which way is south? He finally looked up, "There is a big ass sign, can't miss it."

And he was right, it really was a big ass sign of an "M". She realizes she has seen them rather a lot when wandering around earlier. Ruth is once more baffled by the change of price, a mere burger used to be only 20 cents. With package in hand she heads outside, not feeling comfortable among so many people, and makes her way over to a bench a few feet away to eat. It's almost dark now; lights were everywhere, the day's rush subsiding somewhat.

The chicken-burger was pretty okay, the buns were a little sugary for her taste, otherwise okay. Though one burger does nothing to quench her hunger and she was contemplating going back to get more when a dark-tinted vehicle screeches to a halt right in front of her, and four of Eyepatch's men are on her in a second. How the fuck did they find her so fast? Not backing down, she weathers their attack once more. She grabs the first one by his outstretched hand and bends it at an unnatural angle, effectively breaking his arm. Turning to the second and dodging his punches, she knees him in the stomach, making him double over, and then elbows him in the head. He passes out in a heap. The third one grabs her from behind by the neck, and a syringe glints in the corner of her eye. Grabbing his hand, she makes him stab himself in the face with the syringe. He lets go of her with a scream. She finishes by round-kicking the fourth one a few feet away.

 She notices the second one has a gun attached to his hip. She takes it and shoots two tires of their vehicle just in case. She takes long twisting paths for nearly 20 minutes before allowing herself to head back to the White Pearl.

 

She spends the next few days like that. She once got ambushed shopping at 7-11, barely got herself out of there before two policemen who had seen the altercation ran towards them. She knew cops would complicate things for her even further. 

She stole from two more people after promising to herself she would give the money back as soon as she's able. Then she got attacked again at her hotel, which forced her to hightail out of there minus her map and gun. With only three wallets, she once again has no idea where to go, wandering around like that first day. 

So far, she’s  learned as much as she can. The small thing everyone had was an honest-to-God cellphone. They could call anyone with only a few taps on the screen, just like that. The whole world at their fingertips. Everything is so fast and efficient now, frankly it was a little dizzying. Even with all the information that is accessible now there was _shit_ to find about Eyepatch, it was like searching for a needle in a motherfucking black hole. Or maybe her methods were outdated. 

She’s been squatting in an abandoned metro station for the last two days. She’s gotten to know this blind old man, Frank, who’s been on the streets for the last seven years. He was a vet. Army. Vietnam War, he said. By his accounts, it was a nightmare. Not that wars were sunshine and rainbows to begin with, but the whole thing ended up turning into colossal chaos and confusion, and through half of it he wasn’t sure what exactly he was fighting for. US government pulling its promise, and his country caring more about its own agenda than the innocent lives dying left and right in Vietnam. By the time he came back home, he had lost all hope for the country he once believed in and was ashamed of what it was becoming. 'A soulless parasite concealed in a fancy pressed suit' were his words. 

Ruth didn’t know what to think about it. While she thought Frank wasn’t exactly saying anything far-fetched, she still didn’t have enough information to form a fair opinion, not with so much time passing between the world she knew and the one she woke up in. She also found out that they did win the war; just a few months after she and Steve crashed into the Atlantic. Frank was all too happy to talk about Captain America and The Howling Commandos. About how much they helped to turn the tide against the Nazis. It was nice for Ruth to know that, as a whole, the idiots were widely loved; especially Steve and Bucky by the people of Brooklyn. It was something else when she saw a foundation under the name of “Rogers-Barnes”, a relief-aid aimed towards children, homeless, and disabled people. Speaking of Rogers-Barnes, her efforts of finding even a trace of Steve is really not going great. Someone might even say it's an epic failure but give her a break she's _trying_. To be honest, Ruth wasn’t really all that worried about Steve. She knew if he wanted to, he could have gotten himself out of any situation and could fend for himself; kind of comes with being a tactical genius and not to mention his enhancement.

On day 9, she was just exiting a dollar store, concentration completely on opening a can of food, when she was taken by surprise by an attack from her left. Thrown back towards the store door, it takes a second to gather her wits before she sees a red haired woman advancing towards her. Ducking just before Red’s foot collided with her head, Ruth finds it in her to throw a few punches of her own. But Red was fast, and precisely blocked every one of them. It was apparent Red was on a whole other level than anyone Ruth had ever met. Eyepatch must have gotten fed up with her and sent his best arsenal. Even though Ruth lacked the kind of finesse and technique Red had, she made up for it with strength, which set Red back a step everytime Ruth threw a punch but Red blocked them with little effort. 

Soon though, Ruth was wholly on the defensive. Red was gaining the upper hand more and more. It was becoming apparent that Ruth wouldn't be able to defeat this woman, she has to create some distance and make a run for it. Or maybe she could grab Red’s hand and make it an unfair fight. Ruth has always been loath to use her powers in combat, it was necessary during interrogations, but as the seconds tick by Ruth is scrambling with what to do. Mind distracted Ruth leaves her left side open for a second and Red takes it without hesitation. Ruth goes down in a tumble, and the world goes dark. 

 

When she comes to, a beeping sound is the first thing that penetrates her senses. Ruth panics, thinking it might be a bomb. She tries to sit upright only to feel a tug on her arms and chest. 

“Hey, it’s alright. You’re in SHIELD medical facility. We’re just running some tests and checking your vitals.” A man in a blue shirt, brown slacks with clear glasses and wavy hair puts his hands up, gesturing for her to be calm, smart enough not to touch her. “I’m Dr. Bruce Banner.” He says with a kind smile. 

Looking around, she notices it’s the huge medical white room she burst into after getting out of the staged room she woke up in, which was no longer there. Red is in the room too, next to the door, watching her, stance loose but Ruth knows it’s anything but. Now that Ruth looks at her fully, she takes in the impressive form Red makes. She was beautiful, that was of no question, a face that would gather all sorts of attention. But there was something dangerous about her. Maybe Ruth feels that way because she got her ass handed to her earlier. But even if it were the first time Ruth saw Red, Ruth would instantly know she was not someone anyone should trample with.

Noticing where Ruth is looking, he continues, “And that’s Natasha Romanoff. She’s here to-”

“Make sure _someone_ doesn’t runoff again.” Natasha Romanoff cuts Dr. Bruce Banner off, voice dripping contempt.

“You kidnapped me, you psycho. What are you even doing to me?” With a frustrated growl, Ruth rips off whatever things they stuck to her body and gets off of the gurney on gooey legs. The machine beeping continuously now, gets promptly turned off.

“I understand it’s strange to wake up somewhere you don’t know, but trust us, we’re here to help.” Dr. Bruce Banner says in a calm manner, like Ruth’s a skittish animal ready to bolt. Well, she knows she’s not going anywhere with Red… shit, Natasha Romanoff, manning the door. Maybe if she gets lucky and knocks her out first she’ll be able to get out of this room, but with what she saw earlier Ruth doubts she'll succeed. Even if she did pass Red, who knows what kind of cavalry Eyepatch has got out there. 

“I think we got two different definitions of ‘help’, Doc.”

“There was simply a misunderstanding, Ruth.”

“You weren't supposed to wander off amongst civilians.” Romanoff interrupts Dr. Bruce Banner again. 

“Well, wander off I did. And for your information, besides your goons attacking me every minute I was totally fine.”

“Yeah, you look it.” She pointedly looks Ruth up and down.

Feeling affronted she was about to defend her honor when she chances a quick look down at herself and, well... Red might have a point. She’s missing her jacket. She still has her white (now not so white) dress bunched inside her baggy pants. She doesn’t exactly represent someone who has her life together. At least, thank-fucking-whoever, they haven’t got her in another weird flowy dress. Her shoes are still there so that’s something, she won’t need to scavenge for a pair again. She is a bit dirty, hair greasy and matted in her ponytail, and perhaps there’s a bit of a smell, too. 

Ruth shrugs half-heartedly, “Been through worse.”

“You’re not exactly fine, Ruth. You’ve just woken up from seventy long years under ice. And what Agent Romanoff meant was, a powerful energy source called the Tesseract has been fused inside your body for all those years. Now we’re not really sure how it happened in the first place but it's out of your body now, we got it out as soon as we found you. From what little we know, the Tesseract is an infinite source of alien energy and it could affect you in various ways and we want to be sure there is no lasting effect on you.”

That honestly sounds… complicated. If it's out of her body and she feels fine, big fucking deal, Jesus fuck. Onto more important things.

“Where is Steve? I know you guys have him. Are you turning him into a guinea pig too?”

“Captain Rogers is safe and sound, and is being re-acclimated to the new century.” A new voice joins then as the door hisses open and Eyepatch walks in dramatically, making Red stand at attention, no longer a display of calmness. “You would be too if you didn’t make such a fuss.”

Alright, if Steve really is still here then maybe they _could_ be trusted? So far they didn’t act _that_ suspiciously. Though, that doesn’t mean she’s not gonna be a little shit and tickle their twinky. Ruth snorts, “I was practically held hostage, and you attacked me first. What was I supposed to do? Just fucking take it?” Eyepatch opened his mouth to say something, but Ruth beats him to it, “Besides you could have just asked nicely, instead of sending your attack dogs at every corner. How did you even keep finding where I was?” 

“First of all, nobody is holding you hostage. You are here for your own, and everybody else’s, safety. We always find anyone we want to find Ms. Ayur, there is nowhere you can hide from me. You should be grateful I gave you nine days.”

Sudden fury overtakes Ruth and makes her want to pluck out Eyepatch's one remaining eye. “What are you? Jesus? And you _gave_ me nine days? Who are you to give me anything? I'm not your fucking property. I'm out of here.” Ruth tries to move towards the door, not giving a damn that Red is standing guard there. They'll have to fucking shoot and kill her if they really wanna keep her here. She won’t be another ragdoll to be thrown around. 

“You are not going anywhere. Last time you got lucky." Eyepatch says dangerously and puts himself in her path, halting her in her steps. Just as Ruth was starting to glare at him and prepare herself to start strategizing how to remove him from her path, Eyepatch takes a deep breath and forces himself to loosen his stance, “The medical screening could have been out of the way days ago, and you could have been with Captain Rogers learning about the new century. Part of why we placed you in a specially constructed place for you.” Ruth prepared herself to give him a piece of her mind again, that their _specially constructed place for her_ was a shit place, and ask if he had ever heard of something called ripping the bandaid off really fucking quickly; always better than whatever mellow bullshit anyone can come up with. But Eyepatch continues, “That’s not what’s important right now. You need to let Dr. Banner to check you more thoroughly, for everyone on this earth and for yourself. Think of yourself quarantined till then.”

Are they serious?

“Are you serious? I get it, Eyepatch, you want _what’s_ _best for me_ or something like that." A derogatory tone not lost on anyone. "But I'm-Dr-Bruce-Banner just said the Tesseract is out of me and look! I feel fucking great.” Ruth pats down her own body like that could prove that she is a harmless little pigeon. 

A startled expression comes over Eyepatch and he looks at Red as if to check something with her. “Did she just call me Eyepatch?” He asks her with a slight funny lilt in his voice. 

To which Red arches her eyebrow, then turns to Ruth, “This is Nick Fury. Director of SHIELD.” And before Ruth could ask, “Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division.” 

What the strategic what? 

Dr. Banner speaks up before Ruth’s confusion can take over and derail the conversation again. 

“The initial screening showed us that your vitals are a little off than normal. Your blood flow is a little fast, so your organs are working overtime to process everything. We also have a record on paper of your inability to feel pain. Taking all this into account, I would need to do more tests before we're sure you are in good health.”

Ruth stands there with a hand absently on her mouth, she’s thinking of something to get away with. This will not be like Hydra. If they’re really the good guys, then they can make a deal. 

“Fine, I’ll bite. But I want to see Steve first. Better yet, why don’t you keep us in a same room? Then I’ll cooperate to your heart’s content.” Ruth promises with a wide smile that could be interpreted as not a promise at all.

“I just told you your ass is quarantined. Rogers can visit you.” Eyepatch turns around and leaves the room with a dramatic flip of his coat. Red follows him, and now it’s just Dr. Banner and Ruth. 

She looks at Dr. Banner expectantly, who adjusts his glasses and smiles at her kindly. “There's not a lot of medical information on you. If you don’t mind, would you be able to give me a sample of your blood? For me to see what is happening on a cellular level, and so I can get an idea of your DNA’s construction?”

“In other words, you will know everything about me?”

“Yes, that’s correct.” He says with a slow bob of his head. “As we progress our tests, it’ll be valuable information to have. I should tell you it might take some time, and I’m sorry we can’t let you out just yet, but this is the safest place you can be. This is a Hulk-proof medical ward, so you don’t have to worry about damaging anything.” Dr. Banner flashes a smile that indicates an inside joke. 

Ruth thinks on that while Dr. Banner looks at her expectantly. She's yet to trust them and to give them a chance to know everything about her doesn't sound that pretty to her ears. But on the other hand, she would get all the answers she never had before. How she is the way she is, if there is even a way to make her normal. 

Ruth nods her head once. She’s not exactly eager for it, but they seem sincere and she's not sure she can say no to them. 

 

“Hey, idiot.” Ruth greets Steve as he strolls into the room with tight shoulders that lower by a fraction when he sees Ruth on a cot with a needle in her arm, a clear liquid making its way slowly into her, drip by drip. The thing was supposed to be full of vitamins and other chemical stuff her body was low on. It should end soon. Ruth was itching to move around a little, she's been on her back for about a full hour.

"Hey yourself. How are you doing? I hear you've made quite a bit of trouble for them. Was a little worried when they said you ran off." Steve says as he approaches and settles himself on the bed near her legs. 

Ruth snorts, "Their damn fault. Say did they make you wake up in a fucked up room too?"

"Yeah, tried to make me think I was back in New York, while playing a 1942 baseball game on a radio. Which was the one Bucky and I personally watched.” A wistful smile takes form on his face. 

“Original. They're such creepy fucking shits.” Ruth shakes her head glaring at the ceiling.

“Are they treating you alright?” 

Ruth looks at Steve, shrugs with one shoulder, “Better than I expected. Was almost convinced it was going to be another Hydra trying to dupe me, but so far they seem fine…?” She trails off, intently looking at Steve, asking silently if he thinks otherwise. 

Steve in turn nods, “They told me SHIELD was created by Peggy, Phillips and Howard after the war. To protect the world and keep peace.” 

Well, that changes everything. At the same time, Ruth is not surprised at all. If anyone was to do anything everlasting and significant it would be Peggy. And fine, Ruth is woman enough to admit Phillips is - _was_ a fair man. She may have rebelled a little against him from time to time… but disregarding your CO’s commands was something ordinary, right? 

Since, it was created by people Ruth trusted, it eases her mind a little bit. More than a little bit, actually. 

“So, I can basically stop second guessing everything they’re doing and saying?”

He pauses before hesitantly nodding, “I haven’t had reason to. Yet.”

“Aye aye captain.”

Steve sits there silently and Ruth fails to contribute more too. Frankly, Ruth wants to talk to Steve about everything that happened. But she doesn’t know how to even start the conversation. To talk about the crash or this new century thing or the fact that everyone they both knew are now dead; Ruth is not sure either of them are ready for that.

Their morbid stillness gets interrupted by Doc coming in.

“Captain Rogers. Ruth.” 

“Dr. Banner.”

“Doc, when will this shitting drip-drip thing end?”

Doc chuckles, "It just did. Here let me get it off." He goes about taking the needle and the IV bags away to the trash. Ruth finally sits up cross legged and cracks her back with a satisfied groan.

Doc comes to stand next to the bed, then he turns to Steve with an apologetic smile, “I’m sorry, Captain, but I’m afraid I need to talk to Ruth about something and it's between patient and doctor only. If you could step outside for a moment? When we’re finished you can come back in.”

Steve stood up from his perch as soon as the words ‘patient and doctor’ were uttered and was already on his way to turn around when Ruth halts him with her words. 

“It’s okay, Doc. You can stay, Steve. If you want, that is.” Ruth says, not really fully looking at Steve, though leaving her body language open and relaxed. She can sense that Steve wants to give them space, but honestly she wants someone next to her. She didn't want to hear whatever Doc had to say alone. Otherwise, later she'll convince herself it wasn't real.

Steve nods and remains where he’s standing. Confirming their decisions, Dr. Banner turns to Ruth, “I’ve taken the time to look into your DNA as we agreed. If you don’t mind me saying, your DNA is something truly unique." He starts off, sounding smart and confident but also courteous. Ruth appreciated from the start that Doc doesn't give off that superior vibe most people in science departments did, especially considering it would be too easy for someone who has seven PhD's. "We all know every creature has the ability to shift and withstand different environments and such, endurance if you will, but only until they _can't_ anymore. For you, that is not a problem. Your system changes and mutates on a cellular level to adapt and persevere through almost anything for however long necessary. Though, it doesn't happen instantly, so it's not like you're mutating every time you go to a different room or anything. Your body would need the time to understand that it needs to mutate, mostly to survive. That's your gift, your core. The reason why you've been able to withstand the ice and the Tesseract for so long."

Ruth nibbles her bottom lip, " _Alright_." That doesn't sound so complicated. Or dire. Ruth doesn't know what she was expecting. Maybe something like she was so weird that Doc hadn't been able to find anything worthy and she is just a garbage. "But I could still like die?" She asks, pushing her hair backwards behind her right ear. 

Doc nods somberly, "Yes, you are not impervious to injury, or immortal for that matter, only that the environment is not your enemy, you can outlast about any condition. Also, I wanted to ask, have you ever been sick? Had the flu? Allergies? Infection? Just about any sickness?"

"Um." Ruth stammers dumbly, thinking back she comes up with nothing. She remembers her mom catching a cold a few times. On those times she wanted Ruth as far away from her as possible, but further than that she honestly can't think of a day she's been sick, not once. "No, I don't think so. At least, I can't remember ever being sick. Though, it could just be because my mom was very intense about never taking her eyes off of me."

"Wait, come on. Surely during the war…" Steve starts only to trail off. 

But Ruth picks up his thoughts, "Right, your memory is better than mine." Her recollection is not near perfect like Steve's. Most of the time it was good for them, the dude would take one look at something, or hear it once, and he had it down to every detail. But sometimes it was annoying as hell, as he always had a field day bringing up something some of them did or said that was embarrassing and humiliating. "I don't remember getting sick. Or even getting an infection. Do you?" During the war, she never needed more than some antibiotics. But even then, most of the time she was completely fine without them. 

Steve stands there for a few seconds, looking at her peculiarly. "I - yeah, I don't remember you being sick, either." He replies incredulously. 

She then turns to Doc, her eyes saying 'See, even Captain America can back her up.' But at the back of her mind she couldn’t help but compare herself to Steve. They all know of Steve's past, many ailments he had. Bucky's moans and groans of the numerous times Steve scared him certainly helped paint tiny Steve's picture. Pain and sickness was all Steve had felt for the better part of his life. On the other hand, Ruth didn’t know anything about pain, not even a papercut. A sliver of guilt creeps over and she wonders, not for the first time, what it must be like. 

 _Feeling pain_. _Being sick._  

"Huh. Never noticed that about you before and I notice a lot." Steve remarks. "But, well, trust me, you're not missing out on much." He says, like he had read her train of thought. She huffs out a breath and smiles at him, feeling a bit relieved.

"And this is a topic for another day. Preferably after I do a little more research, so don't go around thinking you're immune to all diseases." Doc affirms, and looks at her squarely like Ruth might spring right this moment and try to infect herself with every disease on earth. "Moreover I’ve found traces of a bastardized version of Steve’s serum in your blood. Is it the work of Zola?" 

Ruth’s nose crinkles in disgust at the mention of the fucker’s name, and only manages not to lash out in some way by reminding herself with satisfaction the state of which she had left him in the SSR prison; it also helps tremendously that the fucker is undoubtedly dead and long fucking forgotten. Hopefully, wiped from history and existence.

She shrugs half-heartedly, “Probably."

"Was there any evident effect?"

Ruth briefly looks at Steve, who was already looking at her. Should she disclose the information? His eyes said that it was up to her. Ruth didn’t have to if she didn’t want to, but she feels like Doc already knows what's up and is just asking her as a courtesy. 

"Um only a couple. Felt a lot stronger, I guess my healing got better. And bunch of my previous scars disappeared." 

Doc pushes his glasses up and bobs his head, "That's what the serum was supposed to do. And it works seamlessly with your genome, too. So far, it doesn't seem like it harmed you in any way, so you can not worry about that. It's doing its job of making you more enhanced and I haven't encountered any bad side-effects." Halle-fucking-lujah, even if Zola was a fucker he was a smart fucker, just too bad he was also a garbage of a human being. "Now, onto your inability to feel pain that was documented in your file. My thought was you had a rare disease called Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis, CIPA for short. But when Agent Romanoff brought you back, you were sweating. See, most people with CIPA can't sweat, meaning they can't regulate their body temperature. That made me rethink my initial thought. CIPA is a hereditary disease, both your parents should have had some kind of mutation in their genes for you to develop CIPA. But after analyzing your ancestry and following your mother's side, hers was perfectly normal. However, your father's did prove to be interesting. His 23rd chromosome was mutated and contained the X-Gene, essentially making him a Mutant. As it would make you one, too."

"Mutant?" Ruth asks in a hesitant tone, which Doc confirms with a nod. "Are they… common?" Are there at least more people like her?

He makes a thoughtful noise before answering, "They are, but not as much as they would be if many of them didn't hide so much. The government, and society in general, are not very kind to them." 

"Why?"

"Well, they're… _different_." That sounds about right. If there is one thing everyone agrees on, it is that being different is probably worse than being a murderer. Dr. Banner stands there waiting to see if Ruth has more questions, when she says nothing Doc takes it as a sign to continue.

"Most mutants have some sort of power or another. I know-"

"Power?" She interrupts him again. And only realizes having done that after the fact and now she feels bad, and half expects Doc to snap at her to shut it so that he can finish, but he only smiles at her kindly and patiently. Once again proving to Ruth that even if she knows close to nothing about S.H.I.E.L.D, Dr. Banner was a good person and probably honestly had her best interest at heart.

"Yes. Because of the mutation everyone has different sets of powers or abilities and they manifest at varying points in their lives. Some at birth, some during puberty or some way into their adulthood. It's fascinating, their biology."

"Powers like what?" Ruth asks with a tilted head, making a mental note on everything Doc is saying. 

"Like... flying. Creating fire out of their hands? Moving objects with their minds or reading people's minds. Iron manipulation or metal skin, or super speed. The list goes on and it gets even weirder, too." And Ruth's jaw's been steadily inching towards the floor with each word Doc utters. She snaps herself out of it when Steve rubs her shoulder. 

"Holyshit. That sounds amazing. So, mine is… What did you say my powers were?"

Doc crosses his hands over his chest and pushes his glasses, "It's hard to pinpoint one word to it. I would say your specialty is endurance, survival. Maybe _adaptability_ fits better."

"Wait, that's my power? Not my inability to feel pain?" Even while asking the question Ruth physically feels the other part of her she hasn't mentioned to Doc. The part where she can render anyone in pain with a single touch, but she always held that close to her chest, she doesn't see reason to break the cycle. Steve knows, that should be enough. Plus she never really wanted to think that aspect of herself as a power or ability. And if it wasn't enough to be detected by Dr. Banner, so long as she keeps it to herself it should be fine.

"No." If you stop derailing him, Ruth thinks to herself. 

"So my _power_ is actually pretty tame and boring then?" Ruth mutters, looking down at her hands. 

"Ruth, there is no comparing, everyone is unique in their own way." He says, shuffling a bit closer to her. 

"But reading minds, Doc!" She looks up at him with big eyes full of wonder.

"Would also be very stressful. But what really was unique about you was that your body never stops mutating. It's always looking out for ways not to fail you. Thanks to that you've had the Tesseract inside you and survived. And as I was going to explain, you not feeling any pain is a manifestation of your mutation. Something you have done to yourself to survive. Most people who suffer from CIPA, their pain recipient nerves don’t develop at all. Yours I could see had begun to grow normally, but half-way through were severed like someone had cut them with a knife. It was probably caused because you were in a stressful environment and it was your way of protecting yourself.”

That gave Ruth a little pause, and Steve too. She can feel his stillness along with her own. Ruth knows from her mom's quiet confessions she used to voice during the somber moments that before she moved to Hawaii her life hadn't been all that great. How her dad was a monster that used to beat her so frequently that she didn't have any other option but to run away halfway across the world. 

So because of _him_ Ruth had to change her own genes just so she didn’t die as a fetus? 

"So there is a possibility I will mutate more and something will change about me?"

"Yes, a big possibility."

"Is there a cure, Doc?"

"For your mutancy?"

"Will curing my mutancy make me normal? Feel pain and whatnot?"

"I'm afraid the answer to both is _no_. At least not yet, but even if we are able to achieve the highest technological development I'm not sure there will ever be a way to change someone's genes without any bad side-effects." 

Ruth blows out a sigh, slumping forward. Her face hits the bed with a soft thud and she groans into the mattress. Maybe it was easier not knowing and just going through life as she had till now. But now that she actually has the knowledge she feels like some chip on her shoulder is falling away. She wasn't some kind of unnatural freak; she was common. There could be someone even weirder than her. A selfish thought, but still effective at calming her silent worry she had all her life. 

She sits up quickly when she remembers the question she's been meaning to ask. "By the way, how did you guys get the cube out? Were you there, Doc?"

"Yes." He answers even quicker, then he freezes there for like a second, but it's gone before Ruth could think too hard about it. "Um yeah. And Tony, too." He adds the last part even more abruptly.

"Who's Tony?"

“Tony is um Stark.”

"Stark. As in… " Steve wonders aloud.

A hesitant nod, "Howard Stark’s son. Yes."

Howie had a son?! Ruth’s mind reels back to that time when Gabe and her made a bet. "Aw, goddamnit, I lost the bet." Ruth says, looking crestfallen. Steve makes a questioning sound, to which she answers, “Gabe and I made a bet whether Howard would ever become a dad. I bet he never will but Gabe was all about procreation and even Howard Stark won't be immune to it."

Steve’s eyes crinkle with humor, “Why and how is that something to bet on?" he mutters to himself with a minute shake of his head. "And you guys haven’t thought to include us?”

“You weren’t around.”

“Where were we?”

“In debrief with Phillips.”

“Wait was that the time when the two of you got benched for two missions?” It was. And even with Gabe it was terribly boring in medical ward, after getting injured in Austria. Gabe had cracked three of his ribs and she had broken her hand in an explosion they got caught in. So when their supply of things to talk about was dwindling a bit towards the end, they had to entertain themselves somehow. 

“See, not our fault you weren’t around.” 

Steve makes a face as if to say ' _see what I have to deal with?'_ then immediately tries to smooth it out to his trademark Cap™ look as subtly as possible. That’s how she knows he’s not very comfortable. He tends to close himself and hide behind the Captain America shtick when he’s somewhere he can’t trust or needs to be in control. But when it’s just them with the Howlies, Steve Rogers comes to shine with all his quirks and genuine smiles. That is not to say Captain America is a false entity, it’s just less Steve and more people’s wishes and expectations of him. Something only Steve Rogers has the will to shoulder. In the moments where Ruth studies Steve a little closely, she doesn’t have to wonder what Bucky saw in little Stevie. And yes, everyone saw how skinny and frail Steve was in a picture that got passed around, materializing from god knows where, but Ruth is almost sure the picture was Bucky's that somehow got misplaced. It was making such a big ruckus all around camp that Phillips had to step in and confiscate it. She did see Bucky getting a little grumpy around that time too.

Honestly, Ruth has been warming up to Shield quick, especially Doc. She hasn’t second guessed all his explanations, not even once. Steve’s subtle reserve makes her rethink her stance once more. Maybe she should be a little wary of them. 

“Fine, totally our fault for failing to be next to the two of you. Should have cancelled the missions. What did you bet on?” Steve says in a dry tone. 

A friendly banter shouldn’t give away much, Ruth gathers, and nods, “I’m glad you see reason. The loser had to shave their head."

"What?" 

Ruth simply shrugs. 

"But you love your hair."

She shrugs again. They knew the bet was mostly for shits and giggles, and that Gabe of all people wouldn't make anyone shave their head. If it was Monty, well, that would have been a different story. 

Steve shakes his head at his team's antics. 

"Tell us more about this Stark child. What does he do, is he as smart as Howard or did he become like uhh poet or something? Give me something, man." Ruth is curious now what kind of man he was. How Howard did with his child, the man was… he was a lot of things; while Ruth never saw him as being a father specifically, if he ever did become one, Ruth always had an inkling of a thought that he would have been a good one. 

Doc pauses, gathering what to say, "He got his father's company and is very successful. Recently did a huge pivot with his company. And yes he is pretty smart, though I think he would have better, more colorful words, to describe himself." 

"Stark Industries?"

 Dr. Banner nods in response. 

"Bet Howie was real proud of him." Ruth remarks, looking at Steve.

Steve shakes his head with a rueful smile, "A woman would have to have a saint's patience to have Howard's kid." Ruth snorts, someone who had endless patience specifically. 

"He's not that bad." Steve comments, looking at Ruth.

"No, he - wasn't." Ruth agrees.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Ruth's power is adapting to anything. I know there are characters that can transform into whatever they touch and stuff but I wanted to make her power less flashy but also very sturdy. So because of it she doesn't feel any pain, immune to all diseases and withstood ice and the cube. I'll list the stuff she can do:
> 
> \- All the above I mentioned 👆
> 
> \- Make anyone feel pain (I should really come up with some term for it, I'm open to suggestions!)(also there is probably marvel character that have the ability but I just don't know how to search for it)
> 
> \- Not super strength but can still pack a punch because of the serum
> 
> \- Faster healing than a normal human (not Steve fast tho)
> 
> \- Not the best marksman or combatant but she'll get there ;) give her bit of a time 
> 
> This is it for now, if you read Origin then you know what she develops in the future ;P


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yall me is back. I've finally picked up few of my shit and finished editing this chapter. God it took me so long, I have actually finished writing it like several months ago but just couldn't get around to editing is taking me so long. But imma try to edit it as fast as i can and publish it before another spell of unproductively hit me ;)

They keep her there a few more days before Doc is sure she is fine and Eyepatch gives her reluctant permission to join the land of the living once again. Being cooped up in a four walled, sterilized space has been so goddamn boring. She counted the hours and minutes to get out. SHIELD gave her new documents, a plastic card with her name on it, and informed her that because the army never declared her and Steve KIA their payrolls were still going into their bank accounts. With no one appointed as their next of kin, the money just sat there and gathered dust. Even the inflation was calculated between the years and now, so they were pretty rich now. 

She asked for the stuff she had on herself when Red captured her and some low ranking, nervous looking agent brought them in a plastic bag. In it was the three wallets she stole, simple black hairband, the city map, and a red colored lipstick she had found in a dumpster and kept to herself for some reason. 

As expected, SHIELD doesn't offer anything more after that. They toss her ass out and she almost thought she would be homeless again until Steve offered his spare room in the apartment he recently got in Brooklyn. The only catch was that she do the dishes because he said he hated it, and then he'll do the cooking. Honestly, Ruth could be persuaded to do anything with good food. Maybe if SHIELD had given her better food she wouldn't have been so grumpy with them. 

They first thing they did before heading over to Steve's apartment was stopping by USPS. The man at the counter and Steve both looked at her weirdly as she put 500 dollars in two of the wallets before putting them in separate packages and writing down the addresses she got from the IDs. She simply ignored their questioning looks and proceeded to try and figure out what to do with the first wallet she stole, because there was no ID in there and the credit cards were no help, as they all had different names on them. With no option but to let it go, after throwing out the credit cards she kept the wallet to herself along with the hello kitty gift cards. 

The apartment was nice, quite spacious with a big living room and kitchen fused together, two bedrooms, though, most importantly Ruth noticed it had two bathrooms. All the windows faced east; during the day the apartment is bathed in natural sunlight, giving it a warm glow that made Ruth want to curl up like a cat and do absolutely nothing. 

Steve had minimal furniture; only the essentials like a couch, bed, table, and TV. And it was crystal clean, not even a single sock peeking out from beneath the couch; his room was all military precision. Ruth wasn't sure she could keep up the same cleanliness, but she would certainly try.

"So what's you been doing then?" 

"Umm, not much actually. There is a boxing place a few blocks from here. Mostly spend time there." Steve says with a shrug. They're sitting at the kitchen island, eating lunch after setting everything up in Ruth's room. Steve said he wasn't up to cooking, so they ordered in, another magic Ruth was very impressed with, from this "Thai Ma" place Steve had promised intensely was the best. So here they are eating a portion that is easily enough for five men between them and demolishing it in record time. Steve was right, it was delicious, definitely much better than what she was scrounging on the streets or the stuff back in the day. 

"And?" 

Steve raises his eyebrows in question. 

"What else did you do?" Ruth asks.

"I found this Thai Ma place?"

"That's fucking tragic. You need to venture out more, looks like I've gotten around more than you."

"I'm sure you have." 

Ruth looks at him totally unimpressed at the innuendo. "Have you been to Arby's, yet?"

"No, what's that?"

"It's a chain restaurant. Essentially the same thing but in different locations. Kinda neat, right?" Steve bobs his head, and cleans his hands on a napkin before reaching for the little 125ml strawberry milk with straw he had stacked the fridge full with, "Well, you should try their mint chocolate shake. It would be perfect right about now." Ruth can practically taste it just thinking of it. 

"Okay, I'll check my schedule and get back to you." Steve smiles innocently. 

Ruth glares at him with no real heat in it. "I will kick you in the shin, smartass."

"That ain't gonna do shit to me, sweetheart."

"Even with all that muscles of yours you still have your weak points."

"So do you."

"You're shit with sniper rifle."

"Your footwork could use a little work."

"You always leave your right flank open."

"You have no sense of your surroundings."

They stare at each other dead in the eyes, both unwilling to drop their gaze first, calmly surveying one another before Ruth rolls her eyes. "It's just chocolate shake, you bum. Come with me. And you can't use being piss poor you can't even afford butter excuse. That shit expired the day we were pulled out of the ocean."

Steve chuckles with a slight shake of his head. "Only took about seventy years, eh? Okay, but only if you jog with me in the mornings."

"Deal. Been itching to get out anyway. Better yet, wanna go now?"

"Sure. Didn’t get the chance this morning."

They fall silent and Ruth watches Steve slurp his milk in a true unhurried fashion. 

"Could you slurp that any slower?"

"Yes, I could."

And Ruth believes he actually could, after all Steve Rogers is made of 100% spite. Ruth contemplates what God was doing when he created Steve. He probably meant to put like, a very small amount of spite, but then his hand slipped and he tossed the whole thing into a small asthmatic kid. Way to go, God. 

"You are such a punk, I'm gonna go change while you slurp the fuck out of that milk." 

 

Their jog during lunch rush was not exactly ideal with more people than usual hurrying from one way to another, but when they get to Prospect Park it’s much more tame. And she is pleasantly surprised by all the liveliness in the park. She honestly had never really been to this kind of park before so seeing people feed ducks, sail small boats, and breakdance next to fountains, all alongside a freaking zoo, ravine, and even a carousel, was absolutely new to her.  Feet in sync Ruth appreciates Steve taking a much tamer pace. Boy could he run if he put his mind to it. 

“So, share with the class what you learned about SHIELD." Ruth could almost bet her entire pinky finger Steve gathered quite an amount of info. 

"SHIELD is a paramilitary shadow organization aimed towards counter-terrorism, and intelligence agency. They not only operate on American soil, but also globally. Run by Nicholas Fury and The World Council." Steve relays all this with an easy expression and tone almost like he's talking about the weather.

"What the fuck is The World Council?" Ruth frowns at the obnoxious term. 

"Group of politicians from the most powerful countries." 

A scoffing sound escapes Ruth. "Why did I even ask." 

Steve smiles at her no doubt agreeing with her.

"What do you think they have planned for us? I doubt they just want to help us settle down in the new shiny century and be on their merry way."

"Can't really say. I think they'll reveal their hand soon enough. By the way, Peggy - she's still alive." Steve says with a bit of guilt filtering through, carefully watching her reaction.

And that’s when Ruth’s brain blows up inside her head. Her feet stumble on empty air. She reaches for Steve's forearm for support, effectively stopping both of them next to a bench couple girls are sitting on. 

How is that possible? How is she only hearing about this now? Jesus, how old would that even make her? 100? She hadn’t even contemplated the possibility that someone could  be alive from their time. “You’re only telling me now? Damn, how could you, she was my first love.” Ruth slaps Steve’s forearm but only manages a heated whisper instead of a yell like she's in a soap opera like she wants to. 

Steve looks impassively down at where he got slapped and says the most deadpanned 'ow' in the history of history. “Look, I only heard about it a week ago, besides wasn't it just a puppy crush?”

“It was. Until she punched Stark. Can you blame me? Anyway, I will homicide you if you've already seen her.”

This time he rolls his eyes, “Relax, I haven’t.”

"And why the fuck not?" At that, Steve looks at her with the are-you-kidding-me look. In lieu of answering he starts running again, pace a little faster than earlier. Ruth huffs and follows, barely a few minutes go by before Steve continues in a quiet voice. 

“They told me she’s got a bit of a problem remembering.” 

Ruth makes a questioning sound. 

“She’s got Alzheimer's. Living in a retirement home.” And shit. 

“Fuck.” Ruth sighs out and watches as her arms and legs move in synchronization. She tries to imagine it: Margaret Carter old and struggling to remember what she ate for dinner. But all her brain could supply was a never-wavering powerful force, sharp-wit and red lips. 

“Well, that’s all the more reason to see her, right?” 

“Just been waiting to visit her with you.”

"Aw so thoughtful, Stevie. Then maybe this Thursday? We could go to Arby’s on the way and get that mint chocolate shake. For Peggy, too.”

He agrees. They’ve reached the other end of the park and double back to where they started. 

"You know they will probably want us to work for them. Okay, well maybe not me, but they'll definitely want you to be their perfect little soldier."

Steve doesn't say anything to that. A sort of intense look, like he made a decision or something, crosses his face. They run the rest of the way with companionable chatter about small stuff here and there. Ruth could feel both of them avoiding one particular topic and for now she is content not to bring it up. Ruth knows just as she's trying to get her head wrapped around the whole new century thing Steve is trying, too. They haven't said one word about it, just continues acting like it's an everyday occurrence.  

Steve suggests they do one more round when they come to their starting point Ruth pointedly walks away from him while staring at him like he's crazy. Well, she could go for another round, it was pretty calming, too but she got her fill for the day. The next morning, though, she can jog till Steve's content and happy. 

Slightly winded and a little tired, she makes her way to her room, and immediately heads over to the shower trailing clothes behind her as she goes. The shower is so much nicer in the new century. Good pressure was a thing of luxury she experienced only a few times back in the day. And the shampoo was definitely a new one; soap was the go to rather than this gooey substance. But it did make hair very nice, so she had nothing to complain about. 

After showering for at least fifteen minutes, she exits and finds herself looking at herself among the mist in the mirror. It feels like it's the first time she has looked at herself in a long while. 

Before everything that turned her life upside down, she had a good life. Wake up just before sunrise then help her mom open her bakery, always under her mom's ever watchful eyes. After the morning and lunch rush hour they would pick up Ruth's studies. She was home-schooled, though they did try school in seventh grade, but after too many accidents and kids not knowing to be cautious with her, her mom was loathe to let her go where she couldn’t keep an eye on her. She never really had friends, either. She was the weird one everyone sort of avoided and acknowledged only when it was unavoidable, like when she was a cashier for the day. One thing she did have was surfing, she was permitted to it once a week.

Her mom, though, was an angel incarnate, popular among the town. Everybody loved her and adored her little bakery that always offered good pastries at a low price. She never budged on changing the price no matter how they barely were able to keep afloat. On top of that, she had a reputation of giving the leftovers to people in hospitals or orphanages or to homeless people. So town people had a soft spot for her, resulting in a lot of people giving them extra sugars or flours they claimed they didn’t need. 

After they closed and cleaned the shop and kitchen, they went to sleep with the intention of yet another early morning. It was a good and quiet life they had before Hydra set it on fire like it was nothing. 

Being a prisoner of Hydra's was, besides their daily torture it was mindnumbingly boring. So boring that she had began to long for the hallucinations, just anything to occupy her mind. At first she did fight, she didn't care what kind of harm came to her, she wanted to be out and kill them all but as time went by she forgot. It was so easy to give in, to do as Zola told. 

Then a bunch of do-gooder doofuses changed her life irrevocably. Ignited the life within her, making her remember the promise she made to herself: make Hydra pay and burn them all to the ground. Now that she thinks about it, the whole time she was so focused on getting revenge, killing Zola and Schmidt, that it took her awhile to realize that along the way she had found a little family of her own. It was a rag-tag collection of people, but it was them and they had kept her from falling into the darkness completely. If only she had more time. It never seemed like she has enough time with the people she loved. 

When the past clears and she's back to the little bathroom, it’s almost mistless now. She finds there are small cracks running along the sink where she gripped it a little too hard. Cursing, she removes her hands and pushes her hair back, hoping that sinks are not outrageously expensive too. 

Sighing, she looks at her reflection once again. She could see her mom's face in hers, afterall people said she's a spitting image of her mom; honey skinned, black eyes, with high cheekbones and full lips. Only her nose is different, it was straight and high. Could only mean it was her father's. Finally, a faint scar, though it's hard to detect if you're not standing close, decorated her right cheek and ear, where a bullet grazed her in Poland. 

Damn, she was supposed to be dead, was supposed to be with her mom right now. Not standing naked in front of a 21st century mirror thinking about deep shit. Letting out one more sigh, she leaves the bathroom and clothes herself in a SHIELD issued shirt and black shorts. She would need to do some heavy shopping for clothes soon. 

She grabs her laptop and heads over to the couch in the living room, settling next to Steve freshly showered with a book in his hands. It was easy to figure out the new century computer with Howard's lessons still swimming in her head. What was mind-boggling was the size of it and the internet. She tried to entice Steve to it several times, but she could tell he didn't really care for it. 

So far she has discovered the fabulous thing that is online shopping. She's been aggressively ordering random stuff she probably won't really need since yesterday. A few of her things are bound to come tomorrow, and she's excited to see her orders. She's still figuring out how exactly Facebook or Instagram or Twitter work. Social media was pretty confusing to her. She couldn’t understand how it was essential or need-based, but she's certain that she'll figure it out one way or another. She stays on her laptop until she passes out, and awakens when Steve shakes her saying it's midnight. Ruth mumbled to him that she'll see him in the morning and crashes to her bed. 

Shortly after they form some kind of routine. Well, Steve did. Ruth joins him sometimes. Jogging in the morning, then breakfast, then more sleeping for Ruth until midday when she goes over to a gun range for some practice. It saddened her when SHIELD said they had not been able to recover her old guns in the plane, so she went to the local gun shop and selected a good pair for herself. It didn't come close to anything Howard had made but it was not bad. Then Ruth comes home to fresh dinner. Overall, all was quiet, but she did notice Steve going out to Fogwell's pretty often, mostly at night when he can't sleep. They don't go visit Peggy when Thursday rolls in and they don't talk about it either. 

Ruth can proudly say she eventually got the hang of social media and how it affects millions of people in a single second. Sometimes the info dump was just too much, it makes her want to shoot the laptop, so instead she goes to mess with Steve. Which always annoys Steve but in turn never fails to delight Ruth. 

So when a knock comes at 11pm on a Wednesday night, Ruth had to think about it for a second. Nobody knocked on their door, they both have keys. Could it be a potential threat? Is someone here to kill her? Or Steve? But would they even knock? 

Just in case, Ruth grabs her glock and walks on quiet feet to the wall next to the door and asks who is it. 

"Director Fury sent me, Ms. Ayur." A young professional voice comes from behind the door. 

Ruth wrenches the door open, "For what?" The woman double takes Ruth's appearance and she can understand how it could be a little weird. 

She didn't go out today, just lazed around all day. Her hair was already greasy from being unwashed since yesterday morning, combined with bed hair all day today. Her latest purchase of silk gown and robe that pools way over her feet makes her look like a five year old trying on her mother's clothes. But Ruth liked it, it was soft and made her feel like a rich lady. Sue her. And before the agent knocked Ruth had been watching Youtube makeup tutorials on winged eyes, and it was safe to say her artistry in makeup will not get her points anytime soon, but at least she tried. It wasn't that horrible, okay? Though from the agent's look it seems like it probably was something terrible. 

"I'm under orders to deliver this to Captain Rogers." She presents a thick black thing that suspiciously looks like a small laptop, with a SHIELD logo on it. 

Ruth takes it, "Okay, sure." With that she closes the door to the agents face. Turning away from the door, she places her gun on the counter and settles back on her spot on the couch with all sorts of makeup everywhere. She did say it was for Steve, well, too bad he's not here right now. 

It takes her a while to figure out how it works, but you just slide a screen with a handle out of its shell and viola the screen lights up and soon she's looking at names like Iron Man, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Hulk, Thor. There was a profile on all of them with videos and personnel info attached to them. Ruth decides to save the videos for later as she reads the infos. 

On top of it Avengers Initiative was written in bold. So, it's a mission then. The debrief said a powerful 'god'? called Loki from Asgard had stolen the Tesseract in the midst of Dr. Selvig doing research on it in J.D.E.M.F. Loki then proceeded to brainwash Dr. Selvig and Agent Barton, aka Hawkeye, and several other SHIELD agents and is now in the wind. The Tesseract, they explained, could be a source of unlimited sustainable energy. Therefore, it was pertinent to get it back ‘expeditiously’. Because the adversary is a being from another planet and highly dangerous, SHIELD is calling forth their very own to defend the earth.

Alright then. 

Ruth first opens Iron Man's file, because Steve and her found out Howard's kid built himself a flying suit and calls himself Iron Man. And turned around his company when he found out his weapons were being sold illegally to the enemy, by a trusted friend. Overall, they were impressed with him. Of course, Ruth tried her damndest to hide from Steve all the little things Tony Stark used to do or be before, well, Afghanistan. As not to shatter Steve's perception of the kid of their friend who carried on the mantle and made something of himself along the way, just like his father.

Name: Anthony Edward Stark, 9 May 1970

Address: Stark Tower 200 Park Ave, NY, 10166

Appearance: Black hair, Brown Eyes, 5'9, 185 lbs 

Identifiable markings: A miniaturized arc reactor embedded in his chest 

Family: Howard Stark /father/ - deceased, Maria Stark /mother/ - deceased

Education: Phillips Academy 1977-1984, Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1984-1987 

Employment: CEO of Stark Industries 1992-2010

Strength: Genius level intelligence, weapons expert, operates Iron Man suit with impenetrable armor and flight capability, plus the most powerful arc reactor. 

Then it goes on to detail Tony's life from his childhood until now. It had harsh wordings, someone that obviously judged entirely from an outside perspective. Ruth sort of skimmed through it. She lingered a bit where it said that Tony’s first evaluation had been made by Natasha Romanoff; selfish tendencies, compulsive behaviour, inability to work with others or asking for help, self-destructive tendencies, and textbook narcissism.

Well, that's a bit troubling.

Name: Natalia Alianovna Romanoff

Address: Redacted

Appearance: Red hair, Green eyes

Identifiable markings: Redacted

Family: None

Education: Redacted

Employment: S.H.I.E.L.D agent

Strength: Mastery of covert espionage, hand-to-hand combat, interrogation, disguise, hacking of any encrypted system.

There wasn't much on Red. What little it had said was she was trained in all sorts of combat and was a weapon all on her own. SHIELD initially flagged her for elimination by Agent Barton, but she was instead recruited. Since then, she and Barton were the Elite Delta Strike Team of SHIELD. The fact that Red didn't have more than this said more than Tony's detailed description. That, even with Tony's suit, Natasha was the bigger threat. 

Name: Clinton Francis Barton

Address: Redacted

Appearance: Brown hair, Blue eyes

Identifiable markings: Redacted 

Family: Redacted

Education: Redacted

Employment: S.H.I.E.L.D agent

Strength: A natural athlete, trained in firearms, explosives, throwing knives, and hand-to-hand combat, expert skills with a bow. 

Agent Barton was handpicked by Director Fury; his ability in leadership and field strategy had him regarded as one of the top agents of SHIELD. He is the world's greatest marksman and not afraid to go against orders when he believes they’re wrong. Which resulted in sparing the famous Black Widow. 

Another threat Ruth would need to look out for then. 

Name: Robert Bruce Banner, 18 December 1969

Address: 594 Madison Ave, NY, 10166

Appearance: Brown hair, Brown eyes

Identifiable markings: None 

Family: Brain Banner /father/ - deceased, Rebecca Banner /mother/ - deceased

Education: Desert State University 1989, Pennsylvania State University 1990 - 1992, California Institute of Technology 1992 - 1994, Harvard University 1994 - 1997

Employment: Culver University 1998 - 2003

Strength: Genius level intellect, attained seven PHDs throughout his career, ability to turn into the Hulk. Hulk's strength is immense, with impenetrable skin and almost instant regeneration.  

Like Stark's, Doc's file was extensive; from when he was a child until now. His intelligence was the reason General Thaddeus Ross of the Army had asked him to recreate Erskine's serum. During the process, Bruce had acted too soon and tried the serum on himself, effectively turning himself into Hulk. Since then he has been staying low and trying to help people as much as possible. There was a warning not to anger Doc at any point, that was how Bruce turned into an uncontrollable Hulk. 

Huh, so Doc wasn’t just a doctor. She would have to watch the videos to really see how his other side works. It was hard to believe that Doc could even get angry, he looked so - 

"What are you doing?"

Ruth jerks violently and sends the glass screen thingy clattering onto the floor, staring at Steve like he didn't have a right to come into his own home. How the hell did she not hear him?

Steve calmly smirks at her, "Told you you have no sense of your surroundings."

"Fuck off, I was a bit preoccupied." Ruth takes the device off the floor and checks to see if it got cracked anywhere. Yep, it's fine. 

Steve takes off his shoes and dumps his bag next to the couch, sitting heavily next to her with a groan. "What's that?"

"It's your new mission." Shows the screen to Steve.

"Oh. Our."

Ruth makes a questioning sound and raises one eyebrow at him. 

"Fury just visited me at Fogwell's, told me a little about that. Told him you'd be joining, too."

"What if I don't want to?" At that Steve looks at her like he wasn't buying her shit at all. "Okay, fine. It seems fun. And I am bored and jobless."

"I can see that." Steve stresses his words as he looks at her from top to bottom, especially lingering on her half-assed winged eyes. 

She huffs, hands the device over to Steve, and settles next to him with both legs drawn up to her chest. Steve dubiously surveys the device from all sides until Ruth shows him how to use it. 

"It's basically a touchpad. Just tap on it."

Ruth carefully waits as he finishes reading through what she already did and watches the videos as Steve plays them.  There wasn't a lot of footage on Black Widow and Hawkeye, just some training videos and few seconds of on-field footage. 

"Shield is really protective of these two. Hardly anything more than basic info." Ruth comments, pushing her hair back and tucking it behind one ear.

Steve hums in acknowledgement, "They're close with Fury." When Steve comes to Thor she glances at the files with him. 

Name: Thor Odinson 

Address: Asgard

Appearance: Blonde hair, Blue eyes

Identifiable markings: A hammer Mjolnir

Family: Odin Borson /father/ - Alive, Frigga /mother/ - Alive, Loki Odinson /brother/- Alive

Education: Unknown

Employment: Unknown

Strength: Superhuman strength, durability, regeneration, stamina, lightning manipulation, the only wielder of Mjolnir hammer, master combatant. 

Thor was sent to Earth by his father Odin in New Mexico where he encountered Dr. Erik Selvig, Dr. Jane Foster and her assistant Darcy Lewis. He was not hostile, but his brother Loki tried to kill him and destroyed half of the town. The fight on earth ended with Thor taking leave back to his home. His presence has raised a lot more questions than answers. Now, the same brother Loki is in possession of the Tesseract, possibly planning to do something catastrophic. 

All members must be cautioned that Loki, like his brother, possess the same superhuman strength, durability, stamina and regeneration. When arrived in the NASA SHIELD Facility, Loki was wielding a scepter with a blue gem inside of it. It was how he was able to turn Selvig, Barton, and other SHIELD agents to his side. 

"This Loki seems like a real piece of work." Ruth comments and plays Thor's videos. And to say that Ruth thought she had seen some serious shit in her life does not do it justice. The recordings contain footage of Thor battling a huge metal... honestly she can't describe it. It blows fire from its eyes? 

Well, it was impressive. Very impressive. At one point, Thor was conversing with it like it was his brother? Ruth can see Loki does not, in fact, look like a fire-breathing giant metal thing. Rather, in the photo, he is dark-haired, tall, a bit malnourished, and very handsome too. Though, she really can not see the resemblance between the brothers. Different dads? Different moms? Anyway, the last video is of Thor leaving Earth after kissing Dr. Foster, and he leaves a weird-ass symbol on the ground.

They move on to Tony's footage. And fuck, SHIELD included everything yet again. All of Tony's shenanigans and his ego are on display. His partying and drinking, being a general disrespectful human being however accomplished in weapons industry or smart that he is. It was hard to predict what Steve was thinking at the moment; he had this very intense look about him, like he got disillusioned or something. 

They don't talk about it. Ruth wordlessly starts Banner's footage. And suffice to say she’s not even gonna sneeze Doc's way. The big green thing Doc turned into had no control and was something of a nightmare, to be honest. In the middle of some university grounds the contrast was even more pronounced and violent. Bullets did nothing to him; humvees and tanks were just toys, and helicopters were mere flies. 

"I guess, you're no longer the weirdest thing that happened to humanity." 

Steve snorts, "Guess not."


	4. Chapter 4

Agent Phil Coulson is waiting for them as they board the waiting quinjet the next day. He is a pleasant man with a calm demeanor that Ruth concludes nobody is able to dislike. Even though he was very professional, his admiration and star-eyes towards Steve still shone brightly through. 

The quinjet, though, was really something else. She could feel it's stealth, speed and power like she could grasp it in her hands. So, after the take off she settles herself between the two pilots and observes them as they press buttons and tweak stuff that is god knows what. They glanced at her for a brief moment before focusing back on their flying. Yes, nothing to see here, just a girl who is curious about the machinery you're managing with the tips of your finger. She never learned to fly anything, that was Rogers' job. Well, she  _ could _ learn it now. 

"We're about 40 minutes from home base, sir." The pilot on Ruth's right informs Agent Coulson. Forty minutes! The hell is there to do? Steve is still perusing the files on the screen-device over and over again. 

"So, Dr. Banner was trying to replicate the serum that was used on me?" Agent Coulson gets up from his seat and walks over to Steve, Ruth follows suit and stands next to Agent Coulson right in front of Steve, because she knows with two people standing in front of him like this will make him want to stand up, too.

"A lot of people were. You were the world's first superhero." Agent Coulson answers factually. "Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula."

"Did Doc like have anger-management issues before he was… this?" Ruth asks in all seriousness. 

"Well, it's not anger really. Anger is the easiest emotion that causes a human's heart to elevate rapidly. So, it's imperative to keep him calm at all times.  When he's not that thing, though, the guy's like uh - Stephen Hawking." 

Both Steve and Ruth stare at him with a blank expression with the Hulk's roar coming from the device. 

"He's like a smart person." Agent Coulson says with a tight smile like he wants to laugh at them but not sure he can because it's Captain America.  

"Doc got like seven PhDs. Does this Hawking guy also have seven PhDs?"

Agent Coulson cocks his head in thought and the corner of his lips quirks up. "Not sure, actually. Maybe. I'll have to look it up." 

Then he turns to Steve. 

"Anyway, I have to say, it's an honour to meet you officially. I've sort of met you. I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping." 

Oh, boy. Don't lose your cool now, you were doing so good. Ruth smirks watching Agent Coulson.

Steve finally gets up, and walks over to stand by the threshold of the pilot's pit and hand on his hip. Agent Coulson follows him and absentmindedly mimic's Steve's posture. Ruth throws herself to sit on the bench and whips out her phone and continues the article she was reading about the Cold War this morning, but still listens in on their conversation with one ear.

"I mean, I was present while you were unconscious from the ice. You know, it's really just a huge honour to have you on board, this...  " Agent Coulson trails off and hangs his head and looks at his shiny shoes. 

" I hope I'm the man for the job. " Steve replies utterly seriously.

" Oh, you are. Absolutely. We made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input. " The agent answers earnestly. Now, that's something interesting.

"The uniform? Aren't the stars and stripes a little... old-fashioned?"

"With everything that's happening and the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old-fashioned."

"Do I get a uniform, too?" Ruth bellows out, drawing both men's attention.

"I think Shield will provide a standard armor padded uniform." Well, that's disappointing and it must show on her face because Agent Coulson smiles at her consolingly. 

"You know, I bet we looked horrible. How does one look like after seventy years of ice, Agent Coulson? Was my hair just all over the place? Because I do have a lot of hair." Ruth asks, pushing the said hair back. 

"You were fine. No hair was out of place." He replies succinctly and his ever-present smile in place. But this time there is something tight about his smile. Ruth frowns at it but ultimately shrugs and goes back to her phone. And that's how the next 40 minutes goes by. Catching up on this silent war. Steve and Agent Coulson's idle chat in the background lulls her comfortingly. Probably what makes her start to dose in the first place. 

"We're here." Agent Coulson informing, wakes her and sees that she's been cushioning Steve's shoulder. When did he sit next to her? She peers around him to see out the pilot's windows and whistles in appreciation when she sees a gigantic structure smack dab in the middle of the ocean. They land smoothly on it and Ruth is instantly overwhelmed by the water surrounding them. She hasn’t been near an ocean for years now and no, being beneath it for 70 years doesn't count. 

There were people everywhere, running this way and that, planes litter half the space. The whole thing was massive, and Red is there in civilian clothing when they touch down. Ruth wants to say she looks less dangerous out of her skin-tight combat suit she had on the whole time she babysat Ruth, but nope. She might have inched a little behind Steve for no particular reason, really. Just shading herself from the sun. The sun is very bright at this precise moment. 

Agent Coulson greets her first, "Agent Romanoff."

"They need you on the bridge. They're starting the face-trace." She replies with a nod towards Agent Coulson, who promptly walks away for his duty. Leaving only the three of them standing.

"Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards? Thought he was gonna swoon when you were fished out of the ocean." Red says with a smirk on her beautifully elegant face. 

"Trading cards?" Steve repeats questioningly. 

"They're vintage. He's very proud." She explains. "You know, you don't have to hide, Ruth." 

Ruth jumps at being addressed making her step around Steve coming fully into view, "No-not hiding. Just standing, shading is good here, yeah."

Red looks at her with a knowing look, ever present smirk still on her lips. "I was just doing my job."

"Yeah, I know. It's just you're very-" Intimidating. Breathtaking. Can crush Ruth with her pinky. Can't say all of that, but something tells Ruth Red already knows. 

Then by the saving grace she sees Dr. Banner stumbling in confusion in the midst of workers all, she waves at him. "Doc!" Maybe there is a god watching from above, potentially looking out for her so she doesn't make a more fool out of herself. 

He comes over to them, shoulders hunched a little like he's very out of his comfort zone. "Hey, how are you guys?"

"Good. Shitshow never ends, eh?"

"Around here, yeah not so much."

"Gentlemen, and lady, you might want to step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breathe." Just as she finishes saying that an alarm goes off and workers start to scramble even faster. The ground starts to shake and the wind picks up making Ruth's hair flare all around like it's a shampoo commercial. 

"Is this a submarine?" Steve asks as he walks forward to peer over the edge. Doc and Ruth follow as Red stays behind, watching them with amusement. 

"Really, they want me in a submerged pressurized metal container?" 

"Guys, look around you. How could this be a submarine?" 

A literal four giant fans comes out of the ocean, sloshing water everywhere as it picks up speed the helicarrier rises out of the water. And Ruth is beyond impressed, she has never seen anything like it. So, by logic this thing will fly. Like, honest to god gonna fly among airplanes and birds. This huge monstrosity?

"Oh no this is much worse." Doc comments. And yes. Yes it is. 

They don't linger there much longer as Red ushers them inside. The path they take is long and twisty, Red gives them each small device, it contained a map of the whole helicarrier. 

Soon enough, they cross a threshold that is obviously the control room of the helicarrier. And Eyepatch is there in the middle of screens and at least 40 people, each on a computer overlooking everything. The big windows letting them see their path, clouds rolling and parting for this big machinery. Ruth can't help but imagine a bird hitting the clear windows and sliding off like in one of those kid cartoon movies.

Doc gravitates towards a big round desk so she follows him and settles herself in one of the chairs. 

Is that Steve handing ten bucks to Director Fury? Fury takes the money with a smug knowing expression and walks over to Doc with an outstretched hand. 

"Doctor thank you for coming in again."

Doc briefly glances at Ruth before answering. "How long will this one take?"

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract."

"And where are you with that?" 

Fury motions for Agent Coulson who relays the progress. "We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible cameras on the planet. Cellphones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite it's eyes and ears for us."

"It's still not gonna find him on time." Romanoff says crouched down next to a computer screen showing a percentage of 15.

Doc gets up to get close to Red. "You have to narrow your field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?" Asks Fury.

"How many are there." 

"Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places." Dr. Banner proposes as he takes off his jacket with Fury’s nod in assent. "Do you have somewhere for me to work?"

"Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please." 

With a nod she leads Doc out of the control room. Ruth waves at him as he passes by, in which he smiles a tiny bit. 

Then a prickle of warning scratches the back of her head, like someone's eyes are on her. Turning her head slowly she finds Fury's eye intently on her. Arms folded over his chest, feet shoulder length apart in an all leather ensemble, yes the fella is pretty imposing. 

"Hi?" Ruth says sheepishly. 

"I should tell you, Ms. Ayur, that I am not Colonel Phillips. Any deals that go on behind my back or double-crossing will not be tolerated. Phillips may have let it happen but I'm a different story entirely." Fury says, expression looking extra double don't-bullshit-me. 

"What are you on about?" 

What was it Doc said about having an ability to survive. Obviously she got zero self-preservation. 

Fury's eye twitches and he unfolds his hands to walk the three steps to come stand right in front of Ruth, making her crane her neck to look at him. 

"I'm talking about you fooling Phillips by those bullshit half-ass reports you gave him when you were supposed to be giving him every single report from how many enemies you interrogated to how much does the Captain snore each night. And also you have defied the order to be off duty and await eval when you had the bright idea to stage a suicide mission.”

Before Ruth could open her mouth to say, well... nothing, Fury beats her to it.

"You're only here because Captain Rogers refused to do this mission without you on board. So, I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and give you chance not to fuck me over in any way."

Steve comes into her peripheral view behind Fury and she knows she gotta tell him what Phillips asked when he placed her in the team. She's not sure how he'll take it but it was all in the previous century so it'll be fine, right?

"Okay, no shady business. Not that I was planning anything, jeez." She focuses back on fury and concedes with a shrug. 

With one more intense look Fury goes back over to his throne. In his stead Steve takes his place, but he takes a seat instead of looming over her and laces his fingers on the table. 

He didn't need to say anything, the question was apparent. 

Blowing out a sigh and pushing her hair back she begins to tell him that little thing she hid from the team until the very end. "Phillips wanted to know everything the team did. You were the key to winning the war, Phillips and everyone knew with you on our side it would be more than enough to tip the scales. We all knew you liked doing your own thing but also didn't put every single detail in your reports. I guess Phillips didn't like that. All those missions and invasions were successful with so minimal damage and expense, I mean, if I was in Phillips's shoes I would want to know, too." 

She shrugs when Steve looks at her with a "Really?" look. 

"The point of the matter is, even then I wasn't going to be his little snitch like he thought I was. I don't know if he ever caught on to the fact, though. Probably did but we'll never know. Besides, I just couldn't and wouldn't. You guys were, well, my team. Maybe not officially on paper but well, you know… I -"

Placating her with an outstretched hand, Steve looks at earnestly. "Ruth, stop. You were part of the team. Doesn't matter if it wasn't on paper. But why didn't you tell us? We could have helped."

"I know, I know, believe me. But there wasn't much you guys  _ could _ have done. And in a bigger scheme of things it wasn't a big deal." Ruth says crossing her arms over her chest, feeling a little insecure and not ready to admit a mistake on her part.

Steve nods, expression blank. "You still should have told us, especially when it concerned the team."

"You know, you should be thanking me that I was keeping Phillips and the brass up top at bay the whole fucking time. Besides, no one got hurt, so what's the big deal." 

The moment Ruth finishes the sentence she knows she said the wrong thing. Steve has always been open with them. Liked getting any pointers during or outside the missions. Ruth wishes his integrity and honesty was contagious, then maybe Ruth wouldn't be such an asshole to a literal sunshine. 

Steve was right, she should have told them. Defending herself like this will yield nothing, even if that's Ruth's first instinct to do so. Something like frustration crosses Steve's face and he gets up to join Coulson by the rail. Ruth watches him go with something tight in her chest. 

 

It takes a while until they get news of Loki. The guy is in Germany. That fucking wretched place. Are all villains just gets drawn to Germany for some reason or something? Though Ruth learned Germany is okay now and nobody really hates Germany anymore. Japan is okay, too. Actually they're pretty respected around the world, now. 

Steve and Red take off in a quinjet towards Stuttgart. The Helicarrier was passing over Denmark, so the quinjet got them there fairly quickly. Fury made Ruth sit this one out. So, she parked herself next to Fury on his fancy throne, it had the best view afterall. He only gave her a peculiar look with a raised eyebrow but didn't say anything, so she counted it as a win. They have eyes everywhere. She  _ could  _ get used to this. 

The party is going full-swing inside in probably the most extravagant place she had ever seen. Classy gowns and suits, small portions of food and champagne flowing. 

Dr. Heinrich Schafer is giving a speech about many underprivileged children they will be helping with this charity event and how much they will be giving back to society, when Loki clad in black suit, the sceptre held as a cane strolls down the stairs. Even if a bad guy Ruth acknowledges the haunting beauty Loki had around himself. 

The security guy on the east side doesn't give Loki any attention until he comes within their field of vision only to be knocked up with one swift blow by the sceptre. Before anyone could comprehend what is happening Loki grabs Dr. Schafer by his neck and flips him onto the stone bull. Holding Dr. Schafer down Loki pierces the doctor's eye with some blue looking thing. That is when people start to panic and madly rush to the exit. 

"Did he just?" Ruth mumble not believing what she just witnessed. 

"Uh-huh he did." Agent Hill mutters back from her station just to their right. 

Finished stabbing eyeballs Loki makes his way outside, transforming into an elaborate regalia. The authorities and the police have been notified, a police car is making its way towards Loki only to be blasted with the scepter. Much to Ruth's dismay multiple Lokis suddenly appear around the square and surround the people in the middle of the square, demanding them to kneel, if Ruth could roll her eyes even further than her eye socket, she would.

"Natasha, what's your ETA?" Fury asks through the com. 

"Two minutes."

"Make it one."

They observe the whole spiel about how Loki is THE shit and everyone should kneel but this one stupit old man is too good for this world just when they all thought they're gonna have a casualty on their hands Steve comes in with Iron Man making an over-the-top entrance blasting loud music. They have Loki locked and loaded on the quinjet and ready to take off from Germany in under five minutes. 

"Okay, that was easy. Was all of us really necessary?" Ruth quips up from where she's silently been watching seated on the ladder behind Fury.

"We don't have the Tesseract, yet." 

"Well, Doc is actively looking for it, something tells me we'll get our hands on it soon enough." Ruth stands up and dusts her backside. "Also who even designed Steve's suit? And were they aware he would have to actually fight in that thing? 'Cuz that suit doesn't have a single practical thing about it."

"Take that up with Coulson. He's the one that was in charge."

Right, Coulson did mention something like that. It's just, she didn't expect…  _ this _ . Oh, well who cares, she throws herself back to the swivelling chair by the table and leans back looking up at the ceiling and swivels herself not to get bored. She misses the Howlies keenly and their comforting presence. There was something about being with them that always made her feel secure like no one can touch her with them. She admits now without that security blanket she got used to, she doesn't feel so bold anymore. Before if she screwed up they were all ready to step up and take care of her fuck up and vice versa. Maybe that's why -

"Director Fury we got a girl here with Loki." That draws Ruth's interest, she bounds up to stand next to Fury almost knocking into him.

On the screen it showed the inside of the quinjet and there was Steve, Tony, Loki, Thor and a girl. She has never seen her or her file, and from the looks of it, none of them did. She has curly red hair that is now a little all over the place and pale complex, with big hazel eyes looking around her surroundings, but she placed herself more in the vicinity of Loki than anyone else. And in turn Loki seems to angle his body so that he is more or less shielding her from the rest. She is wearing a simple AC/DC t-shirt, blue jeans and boots. She seems… normal. Sane. Not at all like someone that will hang around Loki. But then looks can be deceiving.

"Who is she?" She breathes next to Fury's ear.

He doesn't twitch per se but he does take a step away from her. "That's what we'll find out." 

Fury calls for Bruce to come in and soon enough the quinjet boards on the helicarrier and everyone filters in one by one. Natasha is first, then Steve followed by Tony who immediately zeroes in on Ruth.

"And there is the other icicle twin. I'm Tony Stark." He comes to perch on the table and looks at her expectantly. Is the universe daring Ruth to say the man in front of her is not Howard Stark's son. The resemblance is fucking uncanny. 

"Stark Jr, nice to finally meet you. Though, I hear you've already met me." Tony freezes a little bit like he's been caught, and briefly glances towards Bruce before turns to look at her with a renewed sardonic smile. Just now, what was that look?

"Yes. Quite the sleeping beauties the two of you were."

Before she can reply or ask a question, the girl from the quinjet is heading in their direction with Thor next to her. Loki is being transferred to his prepared Hulk-cell, his eyes lingering on the girl just as she is staring back at him. 

They enter the room and the girl is eyeing her surroundings nervously taking stock of everyone in the room until her gaze lands on Ruth and stays there, a clear confusion maring her pretty face. 

"Thor Odinson." Fury addresses the big blonde dude, before shifting his focus to the girl, "And excuse me, but where is her mother?" and exclaims suddenly. Ruth notices the girl does look noticeably younger than them, well except maybe Ruth. She could maybe a year or two younger. And how about that, she's no longer the youngest person in the midst. 

"I told them bring your kid to work day was next week." Tony quips up. The girl's face gets a little pink around the edges, and Ruth instantly feels bad for her. Sure she looks young but it's nothing to be assholes about.

"She is a friend. And here to help." Thor's burly voice cuts through in defence of the girl. 

"So you told the others. And she's from... Asgard, I presume?"

"Aye." Thor replies, too quickly but also very confidently.  

"Then why doesn't she dress like you?" Good fucking point. Both Loki and Thor are dressed like they're gonna perform Shakespear any minute but her AC/DC shirt is a little too... earthly?

 "Now you can try to explain that, but there's also the fact that she has a very Earth-like cellphone that has received multiple phone calls since she arrived on this ship." Natasha hands Fury something that looks like a phone. The girl immediately starts to pat herself down, undoubtedly looking for her phone. He flips the phone around as it starts buzzing, "Seems like you're getting a phone call from ‘the Robin to my Batman’." 

Fury tosses her phone back to her. "Now, is someone here going to tell me the goddamn truth?"

Thor stumbles around there looking uncomfortable, his brows furrowed as if looking for something to say prompting the girl to speak up, "Okay. Fine."   
        Fury and everyone's focus shifts to her, her phone a constant buzz in her hands. "I'm from Earth, but not from this Earth." She runs a hand through her hair, looking a bit flustered, "It's hard to explain, but there are an infinite number of realities, and I'm from a different one. One where all of this," she gestures around, "doesn't exist."

Tony sits upright from where he was casually reclining, “Say what now?” He walks over to them and points a pen he had gotten from somewhere at her, “You say you’re from another reality?” 

“Well, yeah.” Shut the front door. 

Tony looks at the others and twirls the pen in a circle, “Is that possible? You guys got an interdimensional portal machine hidden around here somewhere and didn't tell me?"

“Um, actually, it’s very possible.” Doc contributes into the discussion.

“You know what she’s talking about Dr. Banner?” Natasha asks, looking curious. 

Doc nods, adjusting his glasses, “There’s been plenty of research done that shows that other realities are completely within the realm of possibility. We’ve just never been able to see them, let alone transport someone from one to another.” He shifts his focus to the girl, “Do they have that kind of technology where you’re from?”

“No, not exactly--”

"I can aid an answer to that," Thor interjects, "Heimdall and my mother provided a portal for her. They believe she will be of great help in defeating Loki."

"We didn’t tell you the truth because we honestly didn't think you'd believe it." The girl offers more, "The concept of so many different realities is hard to swallow, I know." 

After a moment Fury nods, "Alright, I'll bite. I just hope you're as helpful as they think you are. Agent Romanoff will show you to your quarters."

"Thank you." The girl smiles as a look of relief crosses her face. 

"Wait, what's your name?" Ruth asks before Natasha could rush her out of there. 

"Nellie." The girl- no, Nellie answers, again her face morphing into a cautious suspicion. 

"Hi, I'm Ruth. Welcome on board." Ruth tries for a smile. 

"I'm sorry. Are you - are you a part of the team?" Nellie asks, voice hesitant but eyes intent. 

"Yes? They weren't about to invite Steve out here to kick ass and not include my beautiful ass." 

Nellie's eyes glaze over like she's deep in thought, and something akin to fear and worry shows on her face. 

"Are you okay?" Ruth asks. 

"Yeah, I'm just tired is all. It's been a long day. I think I would like to lie down." Nellie hurries off and they disappear out of view round a corner. 

Ruth turns around and sees the others have their business face on. 

"Anyone believe her?" Ruth prompts.

"She is telling the truth, I am certain if you were to search, you would find no record of her on this Midgard." Thor insists.

"Oh, I don't doubt she's from another reality. I question her motive, Thunder Barbie. Cuz she and Loki looked pretty chummy if you ask me."

"My name is not Thunder Barbie." He informs Ruth with a smile, "It is Thor, Lady Ruth. And I know not of what you speak. They were moments from battle when we came upon them." 

"So, she and Loki never interacted a moment in their lives before she popped up in the woods?"

“ _ If _ they had, how would she be any more of a liability to this mission than I? Do you dare to question my motives as well?”

"Your brother tried to kill you last year, so no, I don't think you guys are working together. You have to understand my skepticism. We can't know anything about her unless you or  _ she  _ throws us a bone."

Thor gives a slight nod of his head, “I understand, but rest assured that you know everything you need to know. There is no ill intent lurking beneath. I trust my mother and Heimdall to have made the right call, they have always concerned themselves with protecting all the realms.”

Ruth wants to be more suspicious but the guy actually looks so very earnest that it's getting harder by the minute to think he ever could deceive anyone. 

"Thor, you know Loki. What's his play?" Steve asks from where he is sitting. The screen on the table showing Loki is being escorted into the cell. 

"He has an army. Called the Chitauri.  They're not of Asgard, nor any known world. He means to lead them against your people.They will win him the Earth, in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract. "

"An army. From outer space?" Steve asks like he can't believe the shit he's asking. 

"So, he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."

"Selvig?'

"He's an astrophysicist."

"He's a friend." How the hell Barbie from an alien planet has more friends than her? Is she even awake? Maybe she's still under the ice and this is all just a dream her mind is creating to entertain her frozen ass. But she knows she's not creative enough to think of people from outer space or alternate reality. She didn't even know alternate reality was words you could put together and made an actual sense. 

"I want to know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here."  _ Good point. _

"But, think about the mechanics. Iridium... What do they need the iridium for?"

"It's a stabilising agent. It means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at Shield. Also, it means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants. The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. The only major component he still needs is a power source of high-energy density. Something to kick-start the Cube." Natasha comes back into the room as Stark Jr. rattles on. 

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve questions looking at Stark. 

Doc cuts in, "He would have to heat the Cube to 120-million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier. 

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilise the quantum tunnelling effect." 

"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet."

"Finally, someone who speaks English." Stark says, satisfaction clear in his voice. 

"Is that what just happened?" Steve asks, a little dumbfounded. Ruth pats him on the shoulder consolingly. 

"Okay, so we got the sciency-thingy out of the way. Alien army is coming in to take earth, and Loki practically has everything he needs to make it happen. So, why is he here? Steve got a point, Loki let us take him. Is it about Nellie? Is he here because she's here?" Ruth is aware they got the pieces but the big picture is still not clear. "And before anyone says anything, Barbie what can you tell us about this army? What do they look like, do they look like  _ you _ or that thing from that Alien movie or what?"

"No. I have never seen them in my life, they travel between Yggdrasil in the shadows. They are a force not many have seen but from hearsay their numbers are countless and bring darkness wherever they go. Makes me worried for Loki why he's even dealing with them in the first place. Surely, he should know if they were to take over earth Loki will not be in control of them. No one can. I'm not sure of his intentions of being here. Maybe there is something he wants on this ship." But even as Thunder Barbie says it, a look of doubt and puzzlement crosses his face.

Hmm, so Loki doesn't have much future plans further than getting the Chitauri here. Thinking back to the little interaction Loki and Nellie had it was obvious they're protective of each other, no matter what Barbie says here.

"What if we get Loki to give up the Tesseract in exchange for the girl?" Ruth puts it out there, and Natasha's eyes bore into her. Ruth knows she's been thinking the same thing. 

"On what grounds do you think Loki will give up the Tesseract just for her?" Doc questions Ruth's logic. 

"Like I said earlier, they seemed close. Almost protective. And the girl - Nellie, she had jumped through reality to  _ help _ . Now, that's a pretty fucking drastic measure to take if you ask me. Would anyone just hop onto another reality for a nobody? That girl knows more than she's letting on." 

"Loki fought his own family for the throne, for his schemes, do you really think he will give his plans up for a simple midgardian?" 

Ruth bites her tongue before she says Loki actually seems to care more about this  _ simple midgardian  _ than his own brother. 

"Of course she knows more. No offence, Mr. Odinson but we can't trust her just because you tell us to. She could just be here to gather intel for Loki. For now we let her be, watch her moves but be mindful of what you say around her." With that Fury goes out the door, likely to go talk to Loki.

"Alrighty then, shall we Dr. Banner? To your lab?" Stark prompts Doc who nods and makes for the east.

"Wait, I'll come with you guys. Your fancy big words are actually pretty interesting." 

Truth be told Ruth just wanted to avoid Steve for a bit. 


	5. Chapter 5

"The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports of the Tesseract. But it's going to take weeks to process." Doc explains as he scans the scepter with some sort of machine. Ruth is standing directly in front of him on the other side of the table, curiously observing what he's doing. 

"If we bypass their mainframe and direct route to the Homer cluster, we can clock this at around 600 teraflops." Tony informs as he tweaks something on his transportable device he brought with him on the heli. The lab was full of it and Ruth couldn’t begin to describe most of them. Only thing she can say about them is that they all have touch screens. 

"Heh. All I packed was a toothbrush." Doc jokes. 

The gem in the scepter glitters like a diamond and looks really pretty, which is why Ruth finds herself touching it with the tip of her pointer finger only to wince and retract it quickly and put her finger in her mouth.

"What are you doing?" Doc asks amusement clear in his face as he just witnessed her touch an alien object with no thought or whatsoever.

"It's really pretty." She shrugs. 

"Are you stupid?" Stark asks, coming to stand next to her. 

Ruth rolls her eyes at him. "So, Tony Stark." She prompts looking him in the eye. 

"Yes, Ruth… Actually I'm not even gonna attempt your last name. Maybe Fury has the balls but I like my dignity intact, thank you very much." 

She smiles and shakes her head at his silliness. Like father like son, "There is no secret recipe to it, you just say it exactly how it looks like. No prolonging the vowels or anything. Just say it fast." 

Tony says it all while looking at her like she's leading him into a trap. 

"There you go, you got it." 

He smirks proudly, "Well, I'm good at everything I do."

"Anyway, tell me, you knew the guys and Peggy, right." 

She notices an uneasiness from him but she keeps her mouth shut. "Yes, I did know them. Insufferable bunch if you ask me. Don't know how they were the best the Army had in its history." But even as he says it, there was a tender look in his eyes. "Anyway, your file said you don’t feel even an ounce of pain. How is that like?"

Not reading too much into the topic change, she goes along with it. "I don’t know. Normal? At least for me?"

Stark squints at her and goes, "Huh. You really are not feeling this." And looks pointedly down. Ruth follows his eyes and there is a small pen like thing in his hand and is currently pressed into her back. 

"No and what’s that?” She asks and he retracts it back and goes to stand next to Doc. 

"Shock pen. Nothing major, just a simple prank thing." 

The door hisses open before Ruth could reply and Steve comes in, still in that ridiculous suit of his. 

"Hey man, you're still in that suit?" Ruth asks him in a form of greeting.

"Yes? Something wrong with it?" Steve replies with a question as he looks down to himself, as if checking he looked nothing less than perfect.

"Aside from it's hideous?" Stark quips up as he gets comfortable on a chair and opens a silver looking packet. Offering it to them, Ruth and Doc each accept it, but Steve looks at Stark with something like contempt on his face. He doesn't say anything. It unnerves Ruth a little, so much disappointment she can read from his expression. 

"It is a little ugly." She says to dispel that look from Steve's face. "You gotta admit, the whole thing is  hard to say is a combat suit. At least it highlights all your good… qualities." It makes him snort and smile, wiping off the nasty look making Ruth mentally let out a breath of relief. 

The door opens for the second time and Thor strides in with Nellie behind him. 

“I was wondering whether we had scared you off.” Steve teases Nellie as she looks up at him

"I don’t scare that easily, just had to take care of a few things.” Nellie replies smiling but with a twinge of nervousness to it. 

“Glad to see you could join us.” Doc offers, and Ruth once again tries to comprehend how this mild-mannered welcoming person gets turned into... well, the Hulk. If she hadn't seen the footages she would have scoffed at the whole prospect.

Thor looks around the room before his attention gets caught by the screen that is showing Loki in his confinement cell. His gaze is intense, sorrow clear on his face. Ruth can only imagine what the guy is going through, his own brother, even if adopted, is fighting opposite him. To fight someone you had grown up with. Even if she doesn't want to think it, she wonders if Thor will do what is necessary if the situation calls for it. Family either strengthens you or weakens you. 

“Yes, Banner here is thrilled by the idea of other realities existing. Won’t quit trying to figure out how to prove it. Maybe you could help.” Stark says, sounding casual but obviously curious too. 

Nellie held up her hands, “I’m sorry guys, but I don’t know how it works. I just walked through the portal that appeared and then I was here."

She seeks out Thor, then follows his line of sight and her attention zeroes in on Loki, too. Ruth was expecting her to look melancholy like Thor but her face morphs into annoyance and isn't that interesting. Even a flash of disdain crosses before it looks like she’s forcefully stamping it down. Then she centers herself once more, as if just a glimpse of Loki rattles her so. 

Interesting. 

Stark gets up and comes to stand next to Nellie offering the packet. “Blueberry?” Nellie shakes her head silently. “So what are you doing here?"

“What do you mean?”

“Big baddie from space attacks and you choose to jump into the fight even though it’s not your world, your reality to protect? You can understand where there’s some confusion. Especially since I distinctly remember you saying that nothing like any of this exists where you’re from.”

She simply shrugs, “Why is it so hard to believe that someone wants to help you guys?"

“How old are you anyway?” Steve asks.

“Nineteen.” She replied, her voice flat and edged with steel.

“Do your parents know you just ran off to another reality?” Tony questions her.

“Yes.”

Ruth jumps into the conversation. "And they're completely okay with it? Or is reality hopping just a walk in a park for your earth?"

“It’s not a walk in the park for anyone.” She says calmly before her look turns grim, “At least, I don’t think so. Thor would know more about it than me given his people are the ones who created it and use it.” She indicates Thor who finally redirects his attention back to the room. 

"Uh - yes, my people. For my people reality hopping is a walk in the park. Well, not really, only for the royal family and those who can be trusted." He looks pointedly at Nellie. "We have a magnificent thing called the Bifrost up on Asgard that can get us anywhere we want, and my mother can do portals, too. Very convenient." He blunders, making it obvious his knowledge in portals are, well, not extensive.

Nellie sighs next to him. “And no, my parents probably wouldn’t be okay with it if they had believed me when I told them. But it wouldn’t matter. I’d still be here. Like how you all are still here, even if your loved ones don’t agree.” She casts a glance at Tony.

And why did she glance at Tony of all people? Does she know something about Tony that the rest of the team don't? And how would she know anything about him, she arrived like five minutes ago. Ruth files it away anyway. 

“In any case, who would pass up the opportunity to save the world?” 

"Mhhmm." Ruth humms thoughtfully. Sure, a very noble thought indeed. But for most of them, they got saddled with it and it is obvious Nellie is here 100% on her own volition. She's either really as virtuous as she says she is or she's just full of shit and there is some personal stake here that the team is not aware of.

Suddenly Natasha's voice comes through the speaker, which startles everyone in the room. Ruth notices at the corner of her eyes Tony immediately checking Doc with laser focus. When Doc stays Doc, Tony smiles and shakes his head. 

"Thor, Fury wants you on the bridge." Ruth adores her style, short and succinct. 

Thor glances at Nellie, who’s face resumes some of its earlier nervousness, then turns to the others, “I will take my leave then.” He heads out with a pat on Nellie's shoulder. 

With minus Thor in the room, the tension and nerves are prominent. Ruth didn't realize how much the blonde's presence soothed the room. It reminds her of Peggy, whenever she was in the room Ruth somehow knew that everything would be okay or she'd figure everything out. 

She can see Nellie is feeling the same, because she's now just standing there facing the four of them with uncertainty. 

Tony clears his throat and gestures at the chair next to the scepter, "Hey, mi lab es su lab. Take a seat, it's gonna take a few hours to locate the Tesseract, so might as well get comfortable." 

“Por supuesto.” Nellie replies, fidgeting for a moment before quickly crossing to the seat and sitting down on the edge of it. “Made any real progress?” 

Ruth looks at Steve questioningly if he got what they just said. But he's sporting a similar frown to hers, obviously he didn't get it either. Just adds to the list of things they don't get in this future. 

"Thanks to Banner being an expert in gamma radiation, yes. And especially with Tony Stark in the room, real progress is all we make." Tony replies with a wink and a smirk.

Nellie scoffs, looking off through the windows of the lab as though she’s trying to avoid saying something she might regret. After a moment she turns back to him, “Well, I guess the world is saved then.”

"You get my drift. So, twenty questions! I'll go first. What's your last name?"

“Raine.” 

Tony is looking at Nellie like waiting for something, "Come on, don't stray from our drift, it's your turn now. Ask me something."

“I don’t know.. How do you feel about aliens existing?”

"Oh, not to disappoint you or anything but I don't think Tony thinks about anything but himself." Doc says, smiling at Nellie. 

Tony throws the blueberry he was going to eat at Doc instead. "Rude. And excuse you very much, I do happen to think about a lot of things actually. And I think aliens showing up was only a matter of time. And personally I'm happy that it happened before I'm six feet under. Also as long as they don't destroy my building they're good in my books. Okay, my turn now. How do you feel about aliens and do your earth have them?"

“I’m not surprised they exist, at least, aliens in the extraterrestrial life sense. But Asgardians—“ She stumbles over her own words, “I mean, yeah, aliens, not surprising, and no, my planet does not have them, not to my knowledge. What’s your favorite color?”

"Red." He says without hesitating, and squints at Nellie, "What was that stumble? You're hiding something, Nellie Raine."

 “Mine too.” She pauses, “And about as much as you are, Tony Stark. Nothing particularly crucial. Do you guys have Game of Thrones?” 

“Doesn’t ring a bell.” 

“Let me go grab my phone charger and maybe I can show you guys things from my reality you don’t have. I have some stuff saved. Could be fun-- seeing things that, uh, don’t exist here.” She leaves the room before any of them can reply.

Banner watches her leave, “I think she’s scared of us.” Or more like she’s escaping a situation where anything can be asked of her. 

Tony recovers from Nellie’s sudden departure fastest and turns to Doc. "You know, Banner, you should come by Stark Tower sometime. Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it. It's a Candy Land." He offers sincerely, expectation of Doc accepting clear on his face. 

"Thanks, but the last time I was in New York, I kind of broke Harlem."

"Well, I promise a stress-free environment. No tension, no surprises." Then to Ruth and Steve's surprise, Tony jams the shock-pen into Doc's side like he did earlier with Ruth. 

"Hey, are you nuts?" Steve jerks from where he was reclining against the wall and rounds on Stark. 

"Jury's out." Stark says flippantly towards Steve then turns back to Doc, "You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?" 

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve 

"Funny things are."

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offence, Doc"

"It's all right, I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things."

"You're tip-toeing, big man. You need to strut."

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr Stark." 

"Do you think I'm not? Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

"You think Fury's hiding something?" 

"He's a spy. Captain, he's "the" spy. His secrets have secrets." Stark got a point there. Fury seemed like many things, but showing all his cards? Sun will rise from the west before that'll happen. "I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of Shield's secure files." 

"I'm sorry. Did you say…" 

"Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours, I'll know every dirty secret Shield has ever tried to hide." 

"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around." 

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome." Stark quips back, not even a linger on the hurtful comment. 

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders. We should follow them." 

"Following's not really my style." 

"And you're all about style, aren't you?"

"Of the people in this room, which one is, A, wearing a spangly outfit, and, B, not of use?"  

"Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you." Doc says, looking  little guilty for agreeing with Tony.

"Just find the Cube." With that Steve strides out of the room. Ruth only spends a few seconds before she's out of her seat where she's been watching silently from and follows Steve out. 

She catches up with him in the hallway, where he is walking confidently somewhere. "Steve!" 

He doesn't stop but he slows down. "What the hell was that?" She grabs his forearm, effectively stopping him in his tracks. 

"What the hell was what?" 

"That! You irrationally being a dick towards Stark." He doesn't answer her right away, only stares off past her head. "It's about the footages and articles, isn't it?" That makes him look at her and it's confirmation enough. "Steve, that's Howie's kid in there." Be a little kinder to him, goes unsaid but understood. 

"Exactly, he is Howie's kid." Steve replies, tone hard and unmoving.

"And you expected more." He doesn't answer her again, instead resumes walking away once more. Sighing in annoyance she lets him go. Honestly, Steve not being satisfied with Tony. is his problem and he should be just keeping it to himself and not throwing tantrums because something is not up to his standards. 

She was about to head back to the lab when an agent informs her that Fury would like to see her and walks off before she could ask more. Her annoyance only rises, but tempers it down on the long walk to the deck as she navigates the hallways using the map-device. 

"You asked for me, boss man?" She strides up to him. Thor and Coulson talking a little behind him.

"Ayur, yes." Fury leads them to Agent Hill, who drops a small black thing in his palms. In turn Fury offers the thing to Ruth. "I want you to get more intel on Nellie." 

From the looks of it, it's a com link he's holding. "Why me?" Ruth asks unceremoniously.

"Because everyone is busy and you're just sitting on your ass doing nothing." 

"You're the one that gave a resounding speech to the entire room about how much you don't trust my ass." Ruth deflects and crosses her arms. 

"Do you want it or not?" 

"Fine. But I'm not writing a bullshit report. Oral report should suffice, yes?" Ruth plucks the thing out of his hand and puts it into her right ear. It crackles to life almost instantly. "Oh, and Steve doesn't snore." 

"What?"

"Earlier you said I should have been reporting how long Steve snore at night. Most of the time we were behind enemy lines, sir. It would not do Captain America snoring and giving away our position. See ya." She leaves Fury with a mock of a salute.

 

The walk to Nellie's room was uneventful, people still going back and forth everyone busy with one thing or another. She's deep in thought about how she should go about getting info from Nellie. Something tells her, if Ruth questions her boldly the girl will clamp down and won't say anything. So, she got to play nice and get her to trust Ruth. 

Right as she is rounding a corner she collides with something and gets thrown back with force. She hits the wall behind her and slides down until she's sitting there in a daze. 

“What in the hell? What just happened?” Ruth asks in confusion looking around and sees an armored person standing a few feet away from her. Now, if her first instinct was to scream and run away no one has to know other than her. Though, before she could do something very much unlike someone who had killed numerous nazis, Nellie appears when the armor disintegrates. Ruth exhales in relief. Jesus.

“I am so so sorry! I didn’t realize that it would do that. Are you alright?” Nellie worries as she runs up to kneel next to her.

“I’m fine. Just thought you were the chitauri guys. That is badass armor though.” 

"Thanks." Nellie laughs and offers a hand to help Ruth get back on her feet. 

Well, no need to waste time and back to business. “What have you been up to? You weren't really around.”

She sighed, “I just needed a moment to get away. It’s kind of overwhelming, all of this.” 

Оh tell her about it. But what comes out of her mouth is total bullshit. “You’ll get used to it.”

They start walking aimlessly and for a short time both of them are silent until Nellie breaks it. “So, how did you end up on the team?”

The team, she must mean this one. "Well," What could she say? That she got bored? That Steve kind of roped her into this? But, mostly she was bored? She can't really say that, right? A small misinformation did no one any harm, right? “I totally would have landed on my butt homeless and broke if it wasn't for good ol Stevie. The dumbshit basically forced Fury's hand to put me on the team." She takes a few seconds gauging Nellie's reaction before trying to dispel the white lie with some truth, "So, I basically go around touching stuff that I have no idea what it is, and end up breaking it. One time I broke this machine that tosses breads back out at you? Gotta tell ya the guys around the break room were not amused."

"You mean a toaster?" 

"Yes! That is what they call the little thing." Everyone knows what it's called, even Steve does. The word always escapes her. 

Nellie seems pretty relaxed, almost curious with a touch of confusion. “So how do you know Steve?”

“Oh, it’s a weird little story. Well, I guess not as weird as being from another reality but… We fought in the war, punching Nazis side by side until he decided to take the hero thing to a whole new level by crashing the plane in the freaking ice. Somehow I survived with him and now I’m here. I should really write a book one of these days.” She tells her, adding the last part under her breath. It looks like Nellie is mulling over what she just said. When Nellie doesn't say anything, Ruth prompts her. “I guess it is pretty weird if you think about it.”

Instantly Nellie shakes her head. “No, no, I mean, it is a little weird. That kind of stuff doesn’t exactly happen where I’m from, but, neither does traveling to another reality so I think we’re at the same level of weirdness when it comes to origin stories.”

Bingo. "Speaking of weirdness, tell me about your world. Oh, and I was on my way to get some of that frozen yoghurt thing? Stark complained this ship was as boring as a retirement home, so he flew in some stuff that I can't even begin to explain. Want to join me?" 

“Sure.” She agreed, “Lead the way.”

"Sweet. The cool lady Natasha gave this to me. It's surreal how anyone here just knows where to go." Whipping out the map-device once more. 

Nellie's eyes boggles as she takes a closer look at the device, “Are you kidding? Why didn’t they give me one of these? I spent nearly twenty minutes trying to find my room earlier!”

Ruth snickers, "You know what, here, take this one. I'll play stupid with them, tell them I dropped it in the toilet and flushed it. They’ll give me another one, I'm sure." She handed it to Nellie with a wink and begins walking. "Is it alright with you to ask about your reality? Because I think it's real swell that there are multiple worlds. Even multiples of us?"

“Uh, yeah, sure. Where do I even begin? I was attending, well, I guess I still am kind of attending college. I don’t know if and when I’ll go back so that’s in the air right now.”

"Wow, college. In my time only the rich fellas went to that sort of thing."

“Things have certainly changed. It was like that at home in the 40’s too, I think. How old are you?”

Ruth smirks, "Eighty-eight years old. I should sign up for my pension. But, yeah, should be twenty-one."

“You don’t look a day over twenty-five.” She joked. 

They reach the room and it's filled with a bunch of stuff Ruth can't even begin to explain.

"So, I guess they just shoved the whole thing in here, huh?" Ruth observes, walking towards the one with Mr Freezie on it, guessing it's probably the frozen yoghurt machine. 

“I don’t know how in the hell he got Fury to agree to this, though.” And there it was, the way Nellie talks like she already knows them all. It could be brushed off as a simple good attention to detail and observation but still Ruth reminds herself there is always more to things than meets the eye. And the armor thing, that was not something neither Nellie nor Thor mentioned. 

“Starks have a tendency to do what they want. In my experience." She says as she fills the bowl with ice-creamy gooey stuff. “So, if you don’t mind me asking, you did this hero work back in your world and then Thor brought you here to help out when we got ourselves into this mess?” 

Nellie instead of getting a frozen yoghurt, grabs an apple from the fruit basket and takes a bite, “Not… exactly.”

She's hesitating, we can't have that now do we. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

Nellie sighs, “It’s just-- I don’t-- I don’t think that anyone would understand my reasoning-- for coming here.”

'Try me' Ruth wants to say but she also understands that just as they are hesitant to trust Nellie, Nellie would be the same. Especially if she got a secret. Nellie finishes eating her apple and Ruth watches as she throws the core into the trash bin. Before Ruth could prod for more information there is an explosion that shakes the whole helicarrier that it tilts to one side in impact. They both go skidding towards one side, Ruth collides with a popcorn machine, not letting it affect her in the slightest Ruth swiftly gets to her feet. 

“We’re being attacked.” Nellie says pushing a few chairs out of her way encased in the black armor once more. 

“Woah, your eyes are all black.” Now that Ruth can see the armor more clearly she notes that the armor thing is just a black void like it swallowed up the person inside. It's a bit creepy, especially paired with the pitch black eyes where normal eyes should be. Consciously, Nellie reaches up and touches her face. Ruth wants to ask more questions about it but dislodges them for a later time. Instead, gets her glocks out of her shoulder holsters. “Anyway, we need to get to the others.” 

“I have to get to Loki.” That gives Ruth a big pause.

"What for?" To set him free in the midst of commotion?

“This is probably him trying to escape. I need to make sure he doesn’t get away.” While Nellie proceeds to peruse the map-device, Ruth goes over the pros and cons of that. She could be lying and on her way to do exactly the opposite but she could be telling the truth. She could really be here to help. As she had been insisting from the beginning. 

"Ugh, what the hell. The containment room is on the east side of the carrier. You would need to use the stairs. Down two flights." Ruth pins the destination on the device. "Follow the directions. And Nellie, don't die." It's a gamble, for sure. It better pay off in her favor otherwise Ruth will have to personally make sure Nellie Raine is wiped from all universes. 

“Thanks, Ruth. Try not to die yourself.”

With that they go their separate ways. Almost instantly Fury's voice comes through the com. "Hill!" 

"External detonation. Engine number three is down. Can we get it running?"

"Turbine looks mostly intact but it's impossible to get out there to make repairs while we're in the air." An agent answers her question.

"If we lose one more engine, we won't be. Somebody's got to get outside and patch that engine." Hill informs back to Fury. 

"Stark, you copy that?" 

"I'm on it."

"Coulson, initiate defensive lockdown in the detention section then get to the armoury. Romanoff?"

Ruth cuts off before Natasha could answer, "Fury, you might want Thor heading to Loki's cell."

"Speak up, Ayur."

"I just sent Nellie to Loki's cell, she said this is Loki's chance to escape and she's gonna stop him. So, might want to send Thor up there."

"And just why the fuck would you do that?"

"I - gambled."

"It better pay up, Ayur." Rolling her eyes, Ruth was on her way to the deck, since that's where the attack seems to center when her com link crackles once more in her ear. It was Natasha but by a private link. 

"Ruth, I need you at the hangar. I don't know how long I can hold Banner off." Well, fucking shit. Ruth skips to a stop and runs to the other way. 

"Be there in two."

Ruth hears Natasha grunting before telling her to hurry. When Ruth got there, people were running opposite her direction, panic clear on their faces. She hurries even more and finds Natasha crouched in front of Hulk, but she wasn't moving to do anything to defend herself or move away from the big green guy. 

Ruth knows no amount of fire power is gonna damage him, and she's not strong enough to hold him or even incapacitate him. So she'll have to make do until Natasha or Fury has some sort of idea what to do. Element of surprise is on her side. Ruth runs at full speed towards the Hulk and latches herself on his shoulder and takes his head in her hands and sends everything in her power to the big guy in hopes maybe it'll be enough to knock him out at the least. 

But, even if she's giving everything she have in her, it only disorients Hulk a little as he sways unsteadily on his feet, and his knees give out as he clutches his head and groans in displeasure.

"Guys I won't hold him up for long, you might wanna think of something."

Just as she finishes relaying to the com link, Hulk shakes his head violently and dislodges her hands. Then he immediately reaches around and grabs Ruth by her jacket. Before she could do anything to counteract it, Hulk throws her away like she's a mere fly. Her back connects with a nearby sitting plane and she falls to the floor with a grunt. She sees Hulk approaching her and she quickly gets on her feet and runs as fast as she can towards anything that will get her any cover. 

"Hill, get his attention."

"Escort 6-0, proceed to Wishbone and engage hostile. Don't get too close."

"Copy. Target acquired. Target engaged." That's when the Hulk gets showered with bullets and effectively robs his attention away from Ruth, as he starts to run towards the jet outside. "Target angry, target angry!" The Hulk jumps and lands on the plane and goes down with it out of sight. 

"Engine one is now in shutdown. We are in an uncontrolled descent. Sir, we've lost all power in engine one."

"It's Barton. He took out our systems. He's headed for the detention level. Does anybody copy?"

"This is Agent Romanoff. I copy." Ruth sees Natasha getting up from the ground and walk away. 

Well, you're welcome. 

Ruth makes her way to the deck but the two agents with Shield gear and clothing starts firing at her as soon as they see her. Taking her glocks out she takes them out by putting two bullets in their legs and biceps where their armor will be the thinnest. 

The fight dwindles down from there, the aftermath resulting Barton escaped, Thor and Hulk lost god knows where, and Coulson... KIA. 

Fury calls for a meeting, so that's how they all find themselves on this fine day as the sun shines down upon with frowns etched on their faces. She tosses her glocks on the table and starts cleaning it, she got nothing better to do anyway. Her jacket was ruined when Hulk tossed her so that was a fucking cherry on top a fucked up cake. 

“I don’t know what to tell you.” Nellie says as she sits at the chair where she got deposited earlier by two shield agents, she was looking down at her hands trying not to fidget. 

Fury was showing them the video of the Hulk containment cell, it starts with Nellie coming into the room it continues to show Nellie and Loki conversing, but there is no audio. Then Thor comes barreling in but only to get tricked into the cell. Nellie and Loki converse more, from their body language Nellie is trying to reason with Loki. Which was interesting in itself. But, ultimately Loki still pushes the button and sends the cell with Thor careening down out of the Helicarrier. Then the video shows Loki, throwing Nellie out of the door. After Loki turns around Coulson is there with a big gun in his hands. 

“Now, I’m not going to show the rest of the video because I feel it would be disrespectful to Phil Coulson’s memory." As Fury says that the room is a somber mood, everyone is trying not to do any unnecessary moves. Bet, all their asses are clenched so tight not even air will slip through. "I have several questions I want answered, right now: Why is it that Thor was dropped from this ship and left to die? Why is it that one of my best agents, someone who believed in this godforsaken team, was murdered as soon as he walked into that room? And how is it that you just got sent here, but unharmed? I would listen in to the nice little chat you two have at the beginning but somehow the audio on this high-tech, government security equipment was corrupted despite several safeholds put in place to prevent that.”

“Spit it out kid.” Tony says through gritted teeth. Nellie shots him a dark look. Not too keen on being called a kid now, is she. 

“He didn’t send me back here. He sent me home.”

“Back to your reality? Or is that a lie too?” Tony asks. Steve shifts on his seat to better face Nellie and expects her answer.

“Let’s get something straight, everything Thor and I told you about where I came from and why I came here is true. I am from another reality and I was sent here because Frigga and Heimdall believed me capable of helping you all. It is the honest to God truth that I chose to come here to stop Loki.”

“I still want to know why he didn’t even try to kill you on sight.” Tony asks, tone skeptical, eyebrow raised.

“I think a better question to ask is if Loki can create portals, why didn't he try to escape earlier?” Steve voices his question. 

“I think the answer is pretty obvious Stevie, he wanted to fuck with us so that we couldn’t kick his ass later when the real battle begins.” Now that everything unraveled she can see Loki's plans laid out open in front of her. He let himself get caught, because he wanted to cause chaos here and escape to finish the rest of his plans while the tattered Avengers will be busy picking up the pieces. Quite genius Ruth would say if she wasn't one of the ones that got fucked over. She sets down her guns and turns her full attention to the others like she's going to say something very important, “Can I just say how fucking insane it is that you all casually apprehend gods and aliens in your free time? Like I can’t even work the coffee machine.”

And the look Tony gives her, it makes her want to take a picture of it, frame it and put it on her living room wall until the day she dies. She might even put it in her will to bury it with her when she dies. She answers the look with a wink, which earns her a head shake from Steve.

“Ruth is probably right. About wanting to mess with you guys, I mean. That was his motive in the movie: try to break the team up so that you all couldn’t successfully defeat him.” 

Did she just say 'in the movie'?

“I’m sorry, movie? What movie?”

She visibly takes a deep breath and collects herself while all of them are on the edge of their seats, literally and figuratively, this girl obviously needs to speak the fuck up because doubtlessly she knows a lot than she's letting on. “In my reality, there are movies that entail most of the events that happen with you all and Loki, for the most part; I’ve come to notice a few differences since I’ve been here. But not too long ago, I was just a fan of the movies. Went and saw all of them, bought merchandise, wrote stories...” She mumbles the last one.

And for a second everyone is so quiet, all staring at Nellie like she just said she was actually the secret lover of Loki's and they have five children between them. 

“That still doesn’t answer my question.” Fury is the one to recover first and say something.

“Right.” She says, “I don’t know how much Thor has told you about Loki, or what he did prior to coming to Earth and trying to take over, but some time ago he tried to take over Asgard as well. There was a movie about it. He failed. And his punishment was banishment, to my reality, under a spell that bound him to me and compelled him to follow my every command. The banishment of which was not included in the movie, for your information.

“We lived like that for a couple of months. It was difficult a lot of the time, but not always. Eventually he figured out a way to travel back here, the portals, but he needed my permission to be able to leave. I told him no. No matter how many times he asked, not matter how many different bargains he tried to strike, I refused, because I didn’t want to be responsible for the trouble he caused you if he found his way back here.”

And that's when Thunder Barbie rolls in, looking pretty okay considering he was dropped from hundreds of feet from air. Nellie briefly looks at him but Thor doesn't look at any of them just settles to stand with his back against the wall.

Nellie runs a hand over her face, “But then we were attacked. A woman, someone I’ve never seen before, not in real life, and not in the movies. She destroyed the building I lived in, put dozens of people’s lives in danger. She was dead set on doing anything it took to kill him.  She nearly succeeded.”

“But you stopped her.” Steve says, his mouth set in a grim line.

Nellie smiles faintly, then flashes the ring in her pointy finger, “It was before this. I didn’t have any ability to stop her. She was way too powerful. But Heimdall did give me instructions on how to create one of the portals, and I followed them.”

“You let him escape.”

Nellie nods, confirming she had done absolute jackshit to prevent all this shit. 

“Why in the hell would you do that if you knew that he would come here?” Tony asks the million dollar question. Exactly, also if he was to obey everything she told her to, why not just, I don't know, make him do some selfcheck on himself? The dude clearly needs some self-assessment. 

“I… because he was, is, my friend? I couldn’t just watch him die. Not when it was partially my fault for him being there, vulnerable, in the first place. Not when he saved my life without a second thought when the woman attacked and I was nearly crushed. You have to understand, after everything, I didn’t have much of a reason to believe that he would end up doing this. He was genuinely disturbed by the idea that he would do what the movies depicted. And,” She pauses, but continues after a brief breath of hesitation, “I still don’t think he wants to be doing this, at least, he’s not doing this of his own free will.

“As for why he didn’t kill me. I suppose maybe it’s repayment for helping him escape the woman? I don’t know for sure. It’s possible he did it just to piss me off. He knows how badly I wanted to be a part of this team and that I feel like it’s my responsibility to fix this.” She shrugs like she hadn't just told them that they are mere characters and storylines in a goddamn movie of all things. No wonder she acted like she knew them all.

Ruth couldn't hold it any longer she had to- "God, this blasphemy of a collection of people becomes a permanent thing?" Ruth asks, none-too-rudely. "But like holy shit though, we're just a fucking movie. Of all things. Like just fictional characters. What does this say about our movies here? Are those other realities, too? Is this a hellish cycle of hell? What if you are a character in a movie too then, Nellie?" 

“I-- It might be the case, that I could be just a character too.” It seems as though she has more to say, but instead shakes her head and moves on, “But yeah, most of you are fictional characters in my reality. And when we discovered the similarities between what happened and the movies, we definitely considered the possibility of other stories being actual events in other realities. Although, I’m sorry to say Ruth, you weren’t in the movies. Meeting you definitely threw me a loop.” 

And that throws Ruth a loop, too. That makes no sense. "Say what now?"

“We? Who do you mean by we? You didn’t show the goddamned bad guy the movie where he loses, did you?” Fury demands both hands now resting on the table, looming over the table, 

“No. Not for a moment do I want you to think I showed him those movies, because I didn’t. The only thing I shared with him was a very, very brief plot explanation. I did not tell him how he’s defeated or anything.”

“I feel like there’s a ‘but’ somewhere in that statement.”

Nellie covers her face and mumbles from behind it, “... I think he may have watched the movies without my knowledge though.”

IS. SHE. FUCKING. KIDDING.

Ruth lets out a breath in annoyance, "Nellie, I like you, but it is becoming increasingly hard to trust you. Who is to say you're not working with or for Loki? And gathering information for him? And if you ask me to trust Thor one more time, I swear. We met this barbie only 10 hours ago."

She nodded her head slowly, “I understand. That’s why I didn’t tell you guys any of this. I knew it would raise suspicions. I see now that hiding it didn’t do much better, but Heimdall said it was best to keep it a secret. He said it would only make things worse if you all knew.” After a brief pause she adds, “I don’t know how to convince you guys that I’m not working with him.”

“We’ll take a leap of faith with you, solely because we don’t have time to deal with this bullshit, and we need all the help we can get. That’s why Stark’s here as well. But if you cross us, I don’t give a rat’s ass if you’re not from here, you will have to answer to me. And there aren't any laws concerning citizens of other realities.” Fury gives Nellie a look that would make hell freeze over. After a long, drawn out second, he stands straight and draws something out of the inner pocket of his jacket. He stares at all of them before tossing it onto the table.

The slap of a blood-soaked cards on the wooden surface is the loudest in the room .

“Coulson died believing in this team. Don’t let him down.”

Ruth's eyes stray to Steve, because it was the cards Coulson wanted Steve to sign, isn't it. Thor comes towards Nellie and puts his hand on her shoulder as if to say it'll be alright. 

Will it though? Especially now that Loki knows what he has to do and not to do to secure his success?


End file.
